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H.  C.   BRUCE. 


The  New  Man. 


Twenty-nine  Years  a  Slave. 


Twenty-nine  Years  a  Free  Man 


Ho' 

U 

KECOUvECTIONS  OF 

o 

H.  C.  BRUCE 

YORK,  PA. 

I'.    ANSTADT    &    SONS, 

1895. 


Entered  according    to  Act  ofCongress,  in  the  year  1895,  by 

H    C   BRUCE, 
In  t'.e  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Cor  gresF,  at  Washington. 


S~$  ^3 


Library,  Univ.  of 
North  Carolina 


PREFACE. 


The  author  offers  to  the  public  this  little  book,  containing 
his  personal  recollections  of  slavery,  with  the  modest  hope  that 
it  will  be  found  to  present  an  impartial  and  unprejudiced  view  of 
that  system.  His  experience  taught  him  that  all  masters  were 
not  cruel,  and  that  all  slaves  were  not  maltreated.  There  were 
brutal  masters  and  there  were  mean,  trifling  lazy  slaves.  While 
some  masters  cruelly  whipped,  half  fed  and  overworked  their 
slaves,  there  were  many  others  who  provided  for  their  slaves 
with  fatherly  care,  saw  that  they  were  well  fed  and  clothed,  and 
would  neither  whip  them  themselves,  nor  permit  others  to  do  so. 

Having  reached  the  age  of  twenty-nine  before  he  could  call 
himself  a  free  man,  and  having  been  peculiarly  fortunate  in  all 
his  surroundings  during  the  period  of  his  slavery,  the  author 
considers  himself  competent  to  deal  with  all  concerned,  fairly 
and  without  prejudice,  and  he  will  feel  more  than  repaid  for  his 
labor,  if  he  can  throw  even  some  little  new  light  upon  this  much 
mooted  question.  He  believes  that  we  are  too  far  removed  now 
from  the  heart  burnings  and  cruelties  of  that  system  of  slavery, 
horrible  as  it  was,  and  too  far  removed  from  that  bloody  strife 
that  destroyed  the  system,  root  and  branch,  to  let  our  accounts 
of  it  now  be  colored  by  its  memories.  Freedom  has  been  sweet 
indeed  to  the  ex-bondman.  It  has  been  one  glorious  harvest  of 
good  things,  and  he  fervently  prays  for  grace  to  forget  the  past 
and  for  strength  to  go  forward  to  resolutely  meet  the  future. 

The  author  early  became  impressed  with  the  belief,  which 
has  since  settled  into  deep  conviction,  that  just  as  the  whites 
were  divided  into  two  great  classes,  so  the  slaves  were  divided. 
There  are  certain  characteristics  of  good  blood,  that  manifest 
themselves  in  the  honor  and  ability  and  other  virtues  of  their 
possessors,  and  these  virtues  could  be  seen  as  often  exemplified 
beneath  black  skins  as  beneath  white  ones.  There  were  those 
slaves  who  would  have  suffered  death  rather  than  submit  to  dis- 


IV.  PREFACE. 


honor  ;  who,  though  they  knew  they  suffered  a  great  wrong  in 
their  enslavement,  gave  their  best  services  to  their  masters, 
realizing,  philosophically,  that  the  wisest  course  was  to  make  the 
best  of  their  unfortunate  situation.  They  would  not  submit  to 
punishment,  but  would  fight  or  run  away  rather  than  be 
whipped. 

On  the  other  hand  there  was  a  class  of  Negroes  among  the 
slaves  who  were  lazy  and  mean.  They  were  as  untrue  to  their 
fellows  as  to  themselves.  Like  the  poor  whites  to  whom  they  were 
analagous  in  point  of  blood,  they  had  little  or  no  honor,  no  high 
sense  of  duty,  little  or  no  appreciation  of  the  domestic  virtues^ 
and  since  their  emancioation,  both  of  these  inferior  blooded 
classes  have  been  content  to  grovel  in  the  mire  of  degradation. 

The  "  poor  white  "  class  was  held  in  slavery,  just  as  real  as 
the  blacks,  and  their  degradation  was  all  the  more  condemnable, 
because  being  white,  all  the  world  was  open  to  them,  yet  they 
from  choice,  remained  in  the  South,  in  this  position  of  quasi 
slavery. 

During  the  slave  days  these  poor  whites  seemed  to  live  for 
no  higher  purpose  than  to  spy  on  the  slaves,  and  to  lie  on  them. 
Their  ambitions  were  gratified  if  they  could  be  overseers,  or 
slave  drivers,  or  "  padrollers  "  as  the  slaves  called  them.  This 
class  was  conceived  and  born  of  a  poor  blood,  whose  inferiority 
linked  its  members  for  all  time  to  things  mean  and  low.  They 
were  the  natural  enemies  of  the  slaves,  and  to  this  day  they  have 
sought  to  belittle  and  humiliate  the  ambitious  freeman,  by  the 
long  catalogue  of  laws  framed  with  the  avowed  intention  of  rob- 
bing him  of  his  manhood  rights.  It  is  they  who  cry  out  about 
"  social  equality,"  knowing  full  well,  that  the1  high-toned  Negro 
would  not  associate  with  him  if  he  could. 

If  there  had  been  no  superior  blooded  class  of  blacks  in  the 
South,  during  the  dark  and  uncertain  days  of  the  war,  there 
would  not  have  been  the  history  of  that  band  of  noble  selfsacri- 
ficing  heroes,  who  guarded  with  untiring  and  unquestioned  faith, 
the  homes  and  honor  of  the  families  of  the  very  men  who  were  £>Dn 
fighting  to  tighten  their  chains.  No  brighter  pages  of  history  »  ^ 
will  ever  be  written,  than  those  which  record  the  services  of  the  fVC(/ 


PREFACE.  V. 

slaves,  who  were  left  in  charge  of  their  masters'  homes.  These 
men  will  be  found  in  every  case  to  have  been  those,  who  as 
slaves  would  not  be  whipped,  nor  suffer  punishment ;  who  would 
protect  the  honor  of  their  own  women  at  any  cost ;  but  who 
would  work  with  honesty  and  fidelity  at  any  task  imposed  upon 
them. 

The  author's  recollections  begin  with  the  year  1842,  and  he 
will  endeavor  to  show  how  slaves  were  reared  and  treated  as  he 
saw  it.  His  recollections  will  include  something  of  the  indus- 
trial conditions  amidst  which  he  was  reared.  He  will  discuss 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  slave,  the  conditions  which  led  to  the 
war,  his  status  during  the  war,  and  will  record  his  experiences 
and  observations  regarding  the  progress  of  the  Negro  since 
emancipation. 

It  is  his  belief,  that  one  of  the  most  stupendous  of  the 
wrongs  which  the  Negro  has  suffered,  was  in  turning  the  whole 
army  of  slaves  loose  in  a  hostile  country,  without  money,  without 
friends,  without  experience  in  home  getting  or  even  self-sup- 
port. Their  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unrequited  labor 
counted  for  naught.  They  were  free  but  penniless  in  the  land 
which  they  had  made  rich. 

But  though  they  were  robbed  of  the  reward  of  their  labor, 
though  they  have  been  denied  their  common  rights,  though 
they  have  been  discriminated  against  in  every  walk  of  life  and  in 
favor  of  every  breed  of  foreign  anarchist  and  socialist,  though 
they  have  been  made  to  feel  the  measured  hate  of  the  poor 
white  man's  venom,  yet  through  it  all  they  have  been  true ;  true 
to  the  country  they  owe  (?)  so  little,  true  to  the  flag  that  denies 
them  protection,  true  to  the  government  that  practically  disowns 
them,  true  to  their  honor,  fidelity  and  loyalty,  the  birthrights  of 
superior  blood. 

H.  C.  BRUCE, 

Washington,  D.  C. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 


PAGE. 


Correct  Date  of  Birth. — Reasons  Ex-Slaves  Cannot  give 
their  Ages. — Childhood   Days  in  Slavery. — Emigra- 
tion to  Missouri    in    1844. — Return    to  Virginia    in 
1847. — Life  in  the  New  Country. — Hunting,  Fishing 
and      Playing. — Treed    by     Wild     Hogs. — Narrow 
Escape  from  Abolitionists  at  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and 
Service  as  a  Slave  for  Seventeen  Years  Thereafter  as 
a  Result        -  -  -  -  -  -11 

CHAPTER  II. 

Happy  Days  Spent  Till  Thirteen  Years  Old. — The  Old 
Millpond  and  the  Trusted  Old  Slave  Miller. — Slave 
Children  Treated  Tenderly  and  Kindly. — Overseer's 
Brutality  Checked,  by  Old  Mistress. — Whipped  on 
Account  of  a  Lie  Told  by  a  Poor  White  Man.- — 
Status  of  Poor  White  Trash. — Fewer  Liberties  Thar* 
Slaves. — No  Association  or  Intermarriage  with  the 
Ruling  Class. — Hauled  to  the  Polls  and  Forced  to 
Vote  as  the  Master  Class  Directed. — Poor  Whites  as 
Well  as  the  Slaves  Freed  by  the  War. — Both  Classes 
Equally  Illiterate. — The  Old  Master  Class  and  the 
Colored  People  Can  Live  in  Peace,  were  it  not  for 
the  Poor  White  Trash  -  -  -  24 

CHAPTER  III. 

Runaway  Negroes. — Cause  and  Effect. — Some  Danger- 
ous to  Capture. — Mean  Masters  and  Good  Ones. — 
The  Good  and  the  Mean  Slave. — The  Unruly  and 
Fighting  Class,  Who  Would  not  Submit. — Inferior 
and  Superior  Blood  and  How  Divided. — The  T)/pi- 
cal  Poor  Whites  Have  Inferior  Blood  in  Their 
Veins. — Superior  Blood  in  Slave  Veins. — How  Su- 
perior Blooded  Slaves  Took  in  Their  Situation  and 
Spent  Life  in  Their  Master's  Service  and  are  the 
Better  Class  of  Colored  Citizens  To-day. — Blood 
Will  Tell,  Regardless  of  the  Color  of  the  Individual 
in  Whose  Veins  it  Flows       -  -  -  -32 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Visit  to  the  Old  Home,  July,  1893. — Great  Changes  Since 
1849. — Plantations  Deserted. — Masters  and  Slaves 
Gone. — Land  Returned  Almost  to  Primeval  Condi- 
tion.— Few  Old  Inhabitants  Found. — Old  Major 
Still  Active  at  Ninety-five  Years. — That  old  Public 
Highway,  that  was  the  Pride  of  the  Community. — Its 
Old   Bed  Cut  in   Gullies  or  Grown   up  in  Forest. — 


CONTENTS.  Vll. 

What  Railroads   Have  Done  for  that  Country  and 
the  South      *--*■-'-        43 

CHAPTER  V. 

Extent  to  Which  Education  Has  Stamped  Out  Belief  in 
Superstition,  Voodooism,  Tricking  and  Conjuring 
Among  Colored  People. — More  Dense  the  Ignor- 
ance the  More  Prosperous  the  Business  of  the  Con- 
jurer.— All  Pains  and  Aches  Due  to  Tricking. — -Con- 
jurers Boast  of  Their  Ability  to  do  the  Impossible, 
and  How  They  Were  Feared. — A  Live  Scorpion 
Taken  Out  of  a  Man's  Leg.— A  Noted  Old  Con- 
jurer Places  His  "Jack"  Under  the  Master's  Door 
Step,  Which  Prevents  Him  from  Carrying  His  Slaves 
out  of  the  Country. — Slaves  in  Missouri  not  Be- 
lievers in  Voodooism  Much. — Indians  Believe  in 
Spirit  Dance,  Colored  in  Voodooism  and  the  White 
People  in  Witchcraft  -  -  -  -         52 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Carried  to  the  Cotton  Felds  of  Mississippi  in  1849. — Cot- 
ton Picking  Under  a  Mean  Overseer  and  Method  of 
Treatment. — Good  Masters  Even  in  That  State. — 
Master  Decides  to  Carry  His  Slaves  Back  to  Mis- 
souri, Which  Causes  Great  Rejoicing. — Handshak- 
ing When  they  Reached  Brunswick,  Mo. — Work  in 
a  Tobacco  Factory. — Positive  Refusal  to  go  with 
Master  to  Texas  in  1855. — His  Anger,  but  Final  Ac- 
quiescence.— Pleasant  Life  in  Tobacco  Factories  Be- 
cause Master  did  not  whip  his  Slaves  nor  Allow  it  to 
be  Done  by  Others. — White  and  Colored  preachers. 
— Rev.  Uncle  Tom  Ewing  and  his  Objectionable 
Prayer. — Virtue  and  Marital  Relations  Encouraged 
by  Masters  Among  Slaves. — High  Toned  Slaves. — 
Death  by  Suicide  rather  than  Disgrace  -  60 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Status  of  Free  Negroes  in  Missouri  Prior  to  the  War. — 
Had  but  Little  More  Liberties  than  Slaves. — Guar- 
dians to  Attend  to  their  Business. — Could  not  Leave 
Home  without  a  Pass. — Free  Davy  an  Exception. — 
Respected  and  Treated  like  a  Man  by  all  who  Knew 
Him. — Blood  will  Tell  and  he  had  Superior  Blood. — 
Free  Born  People  Considered  Themselves  Better 
than  Those  Freed  by  the  War. — Bitter  Feeling  Be- 
tween the  two  Classes  ended  Several  Years  after  the 
War. — The  War  Freed  Both  Classes. — Rev.  Jesse 
Mills  and  Rev.  Moses  White,  Ex-Slaves  and  Failure 


Vlll.  CONTENTS. 

to  get  Assignments. — Rev.  W.  A.  Moore  and  J.  W. 
Wilson,  Ex-Slaves  Occupping  good  Charges  -         76 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Life  on  a  Farm  and  Master  hard  to  Please. — Slaves 
Raised  their  Own  Crop  which  Master  sold  for  Them. 
— Good  Old  Father  Ashby  Treated  his  Slaves 
Kindly  while  Rev.  S.  J.  M.  Beebe  was  the  Meanest 
Master  in  the  Neighborhood. — Chas.  Cabell,  Called 
Hard  Master. — Personal  Experience  Shows  he  had  a 
Lazy  lot  of  Slaves. — Ill-treated  beast  of  Burden  and 
Ill-treated  Slaves  are  much  Alike. — Dan  Kellogg  as 
a  Free  Sailer  Before  the  War  and  as  a  Rebel  Bush- 
whacker During  it     -  -  -  -  -82 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Campaign  of  i860,  more  Exciting  than  the  Hard  Cider 
One  of  1840. — Bob  Toombs'  Declaration. — Split  in 
the  National  Democratic  Party  at  Charleston,  S.  C, 
April     23,      i860. — Cause     and    Results. — Lincoln 
Elected. — Missouri's    Vote    for   S.   A.    Douglass. — 
Higher    Power   than   Man  in  Control. — All  Classes 
Suffered  by  the  War,  but  Neutrals  Most. — Poor  Illi- 
terate Whites  out  as  Patrols  to  Keep  Slaves  Quiet. — 
Fun  with  those  Patrols  who  Could  not  Read  Passes. 
— Lindsey   Watts,  and    How    He    Fooled   Them. — 
Who    Set   the   Town  on   Fire  ? — No  Judas  Among 
Slaves. — They  Believed  the  War  was  for  their  Free- 
dom.— Best   Blood   Went   South   to    Shoot  and  be 
Shot  at  While  Cowards  Remained  as  Bushwhackers. 
— James    Long,    the    Original    Lincoln    Man. — His 
Misfortune    a    Blessing. — Slave    Property    a    Dead 
Weight  to   Owners  After  1862. — Business  of  Negro 
Traders  at  an  End  for  Ever. — Master's  Slave  his  best 
Friend   After    All. — Master's    Property    Stolen    by 
White   Thieves    in   Uncle   Sam's  Uniform. — Young 
Master   Returns    after   the   War,  Broken  in  Health, 
Cash  and  Disfranchised  -  -  -  93 

CHAPTER  X. 
Enlistment  of  Colored  Troops  at  Brunswick,  Mo.,  from 
1863  to  the  Close  of  the  War  and  how  Assigned. — 
Master  gave  his  Slaves  free  Passes  to  Induce  them  to 
Remain  with  Him  and  out  of  the  Army. — Contract 
to  Remain  with  Him  One  Year  Broken,  and  the 
Cause. — Elopement  with  the  Girl  I  Loved. — Excit- 
ing Chase  Thirty  Miles  on  Horseback,  Armed  with 
a    Pair   of    Colt's    Navies. — Pursued   by   the    Girl's 


CONTENTS.  IX. 

Master  and  His  Friends. — Laclede  Reached  in  Safety 
and  Pursuers  Fooled. — Full  History  of  Flight, 
Escape,  Marriage  by  Rev.  John  Turner  of  Leaven- 
worth, Kansas. — Visit  to  Old  Master  in  January, 
1865. — Found  him  Dejected. — Farm  Rifled  by  Thieves 
Dressed  as  Soldiers,  but  They  Left  Him  the  Land    -        107 

CHAPTER  XL 

New  Problem  to  Solve. — Self  Sustenance  and  Economy. 
— All  Bills  to  Pay  and  Furnish  Necessaries. — Differ- 
erence  Between  White  Men  in  a  Free  State  and  Old 
Master  Class  in  Dealing  with  Ex- Slaves. — Great 
Confidence  in  the  Word  of  Old  Master  Class,  Who 
Would  Not  Lie  to  Slaves. — Cheated  by  White  Men 
in  Kansas. — Has  Old  Master  Class  Degenerated  ? — 
Colored  People  set  Free  Without  a  Dollar  or  Next 
Meal  and  Told  to  "  Root  Hog  or  Die  "  by  a  Great 
Christian  Nation. — Who  Made  this  Country  Tenable 
for  the  White  Man  and  Whose  Service  Brought 
Millions  of  Dollars  to  it,  which  Benefitted  the  North 
as  well  as  the  South? — Jealousy  of  Unskilled  White 
Laborers  caused  Prejudice  Against  Colored  People. 
— Poor  White  Trash  and  Foreign  Laborers  are  the 
Colored  People's  Enemies. — Irish  Enmity  and  the 
Cause. — Similar  past  History  Should  have  Made 
them  Friends,  Rather  than  Enemies. — Lynching  not 
Done  by  Old  Master  Class. — Opening  of  the  Eyes  of 
the  Old  Master  Class. — Is  it  Too  Late  ?         -  -       112 

CHAPTER  XII. 

The  Progress  Made  by  the  Colored  People,  Morally,  from 
1865  to  1894. — They  are  the  Equals  in  Scholarship  of 
any  Other  Class  of  Students. — There  is  no  Such  Thing 
as  a  Negro  Race  in  This  Country. — They  are  Col- 
ored Americans,  Nothing  More. — This  is  Their 
Home  and  They  Are  Here  to  Stay  by  the  Will  of 
God. — Old  Flag  is  His. — He  has  Defended  it  in  the 
Past  and  Will  Defend  it  Again. — He  Will  Stand  or 
Fall  With  the  Loyalist. — How  Colored  Families 
Were  Established. — Their  Names. — They  are  the 
Equals  of  any  Other  Class  With  no  More  Cash. — 
Contented  and  Faithful  Laborers. — They  are  Not 
Anarchists,  But  can  be  Relied  Upon  in  Case  of  War. 
— Can  Same  be  Said  of  Other  Adopted  Citizens  ? — 
The  Negro  Will  Stand  by  the  True  Americans  in  all 
Cases. — Why  Should  Colored  Loyalists  Suffer 
Injustice  at  the   Hands  of  the  American  People  ? — 


X.  CONTENTS. 

Not  Treated  Fairly  by  the  Press. — Injustice  of  Mine 
Owners  and  Manufacturers. — All  the  Colored  Peo- 
ple Ask  of  the  Americans  is  Fair  Play  in  the  Race  of 
Life,  With  its  Other  Adopted  Citizens  -  128 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Colored  People  are  Charged  with  Being  Imitators 
and  it  is  Admitted. — Mistakes  made  by  Following 
White  People. — Advice  Given  in  Good  Faith. — The 
Hand  Should  be  Trained  With  the  Head. — Have  we 
as  Many  Colored  Artisans  Now  as  we  had  at  the 
Close  of  the  War  ?— History  of  Tuskeegee  Industrial 
Institute  and  its  Founder. — How  Managed. — Not  a 
White  Man  in  It. — $15,000,  Donated  to  it  by  a 
Southern  White  Woman,  Descendent  of  the  Old 
Master  Class. — Similar  Institutions  Springing  up  in 
the  Southland  -  -  -  -  1 37 

CHAPTER  XIV 

Need  of  Money  and  How  to  Get  It. — Business  Houses 
and  How  to  Sustain  Them. — Take  the  Jew  lor  a 
Pattern. — We  are  Producers. — He  Is  Not,  yet  Accu- 
mulates Capital. — Our  Preachers,  Teachers  and  Lead- 
ers Should  Lead  us  to  be  a  United  People. — Preju- 
dice due  to  Condition,  not  Color. — We  are  Responsi- 
ble for  our  Children's  Idle  Condition. — Failure  to 
Educate  the  Hand  as  Well  as  the  Head  — White 
Men  Have  Used  the  Advantage  we  Gave  them. — 
Duty  of  Our  jMinisters  not  Fulfilled. — We  Cannot 
Always  Rely  Upon  White  Philanthropists,  But  Must 
Help  Ourselves  -  143 

CHAPTER  XV. 

Went  Into  Business  in  1866,  Which  was  Destroyed  by 
Fire  With  Great  Loss. — Reopened  and  Burnt  Out 
Again,  Locing  Six  Hundred  Dollars. — Reopened 
and  After  Three  Years  Failed. — Went. Into  Politics 
and  Beaten  by  Twenty-Five  Votes  by  Ex  Governor 
Glick,  For  the  Kansas  Legislature. — Pressed  for 
Cash  to  Buy  Bread. — Elected  Doorkeeper  State 
Senate  in  1881. — Foreman  on  Construction  Train,  A. 
N.  R.  R. — Appointed  to  Position  at  Washington. — 
Promoted  Three  Times — Personal  Experience  in 
Pension  Office. — Different  Commissioners  Compared. 
— Gen.  J.  C.  Black,  the  Ideal  One. — Advice  to  New 
Appointees  and  What  They  May  Expect. — Life  in 
Washington  as  a  Clerk. — Old  Clerks  are  the  Reli- 
ables and  Cannot  be  Displaced  -  -  155 


CHAPTER  I. 

My  mother  often  told  me  that  I  was  born,  March 
3rd,  of  the  year  that  Martin  Van  Buren  was  elected 
President  of  the  United  States,  and  I  have  therefore 
always  regarded  March  3rd,  1836,  as  the  date  of  my 
birth.  Those  who  are  familiar  with  the  customs  that 
obtained  at  the  South  in  the  days  of  slavery,  will  readily 
understand  why  so  few  of  the  ex-slaves  can  give  the 
correct  date  cf  their  birth,  for,  being  uneducated,  they 
were  unable  to  keep  records  themselves,  and  their 
masters,  having  no  special  interest  in  the  matter,  saw 
no  necessity  for  such  records.  So  that  the  slave  par- 
ents, in  order  to  approximate  the  birth  of  a  child, 
usually  associated  it  with  the  occurrence  of  some  im- 
portant event,  such,  for  instance,  as  "  the  year  the  stars 
fell,"  (1833),  the  death  of  some  prominent  man,  the  mar- 
riage of  one  of  the  master's  children,  or  some  notable 
historical  event.  Thus  by  recalling  any  one  of  these 
occurrences,  the  age  of  their  own  children  was  deter- 
mined. Not  being  able  to  read  and  write,  they  were 
compelled  to  resort  to  the  next  best  thing  within  reach, 
memory,  the  only  diary  in  which  the  records  of  their 
marriages,  births  and  deaths  were  registered,  and  which 
was  also  the  means  by  which  their  mathematical  prob- 
lems were  solved,  their  accounts  kept,  when  they  had 
any  to  keep. 


12  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

Of  course  there  were  thousands  of  such  cases  as 
E.  M.  Dillard's,  the  one  which  I  shall  mention,  but  as 
his  case  will  represent  theirs,  I  will  speak  of  his  only. 
He  was  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  mine,  a  man  born 
a  slave,  freed  by  the  emancipation  proclamation  when 
over  thirty  years  old,  without  even  a  knowledge  of  the 
alphabet,  but  he  had  a  practical  knowledge  of  men  and 
business  matters,  which  enabled  him  to  acquire  a  com- 
fortable living,  a  nice  home,  to  educate  his  children  and 
conduct  a  small  business  of  his  own.  But  the  greatest 
wonder  about  this  man  was  the  exactness  and  correct 
business  way  in  which  he  conducted  it  in  buying  and 
selling,  and  especially  in  casting  up  accounts,  seemingly 
with  care,  accuracy,  and  rapidity  as  any  educated  man 
could  have  done.  But  it  was  the  result  of  a  good 
memory  and  a  full  share  of  brain.^ 

The  memories  of  slaves  were  simply  wonderful. 
They  were  not  unmindful,  nor  indifferent  as  to  occur- 
rences of  interest  transpiring  around  them,  but  as  the 
principal  medium  through  which  we  obtain  information 
was  entirely  closed  to  them,  of  course  their  knowledge 
of  matters  and  things  must  necessarily  have  been  con- 
fined within  a  very  narrow  limit;  but  when  anything  of 
importance  transpired  within  their  knowledge,  they 
knowing  the  date  thereof,  could,  by  reference  to  it  as  a 
basis,  approximate  the  date  of  some  other  event  in 
question.  Then  there  were  a  great  many  old  men 
among  them  that  might  be  called  sages,  men  who  knew 
the  number  of  days  in  each  month,  in  each  year,  could 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  1 3 

tell  the  exact  date  when  Easter  and  Whit  Sunday 
would  come,  because  most  masters  gave  Monday  fol- 
lowing each  of  these  Sundays  as  a  holiday  to  slaves. 

These  old  sages  determined  dates  by  means  of 
straight  marks  and  notches,  made  on  a  long  stick  with 
a  knife,  and  were  quite  accurate  in  arriving  at  correct 
dates.  I  have  often  seen  the  sticks  upon  which  they 
kept  their  records,  but  failed  to  understand  the  system 
upon  which  they  based  their  calculations,  yet  I  found 
them  eminently  correct.     It  was  too  intricate  for  me. 

My  parents  belonged  to  Lemuel  Bruce,  who  died 
about  the  year  1836,  leaving  two  children,  William 
Bruce  and  Rebecca  Bruce,  who  went  to  live  with  their 
aunt,  Mrs.  Prudence  Perkinson;  he  also  left  two  fami- 
lies of  slaves,  and  they  were  divided  between  his  two 
children;  my  mother's  family  fell  to  Miss  Rebecca,  and 
the  other  family,  the  head  of  which  was  known  as 
Bristo,  was  left  to  William  B.  Bruce.  Then  it  was  that 
family  ties  were  broken,  the  slaves  were  all  hired  out, 
my  mother  to  one  man  and  my  father  to  another.  I 
was  too  young  then  to  know  anything  about  it,  and 
have  to  rely  entirely  on  what  I  have  heard  my  mother 
and  others  older  than  myself  say. 

My  personal  recollections  go  back  to  the  year 
1841,  when  my  mother  was  hired  to  a  lady,  Mrs.  Ludy 
Waddel  by  name.  Miss  Rebecca  Bruce  married  Mr. 
Pettis  Perkinson,  and  soon  after  her  slaves  were  taken 
to  their  new  home,  then  known  as  the  Rowlett  Place, 
at  which  point  we  began  a  new  life.     It  is   but   simple 


14  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.    . 

justice  to  Mr.  Perkinson  to  say,  that  though  springing 
from  a  family  known  in  that  part  of  the  country  as  hard 
task-masters,  he  was  himself  a  kind  and  considerate 
man.  His  father  had  given  him  some  ten  or  twelve 
slaves,  among  whom  were  two  boys  about  my  own  age. 
As  we  were  quite  young,  we  were  tenderly  treated. 

To  state  that  slave  children  under  thirteen  years 
of  age  were  tenderly  treated  probably  requires  further 
explanation.  During  the  crop  season  in  Virginia,  slave 
men  and  women  worked  in  the  fields  daily,  and  such 
females  as  had  sucklings  were  allowed  to  come  to  them 
three  times  a  day  between  sun  rise  and  sun  set,  for  the 
purpose  of  nursing  their  babes,  who  were  left  in  the 
care  of  an  old  woman,  who  was  assigned  to  the  care  of 
these  children  because  she  was  too  old  or  too  feeble  for 
field  work.  Such  old  women  usually  had  to  care  for, 
and  prepare  the  meals  of  all  children  under  working 
age.  They  were  furnished  with  plenty  of  good,  whole- 
some food  by  the  master,  who  took  special  care  to  see 
that  it  was  properly  cooked  and  served  to  them  as  often 
as  they  desired  it 

On  very  large  plantations  there  were  many  such 
old  women,  who  spent  the  remainder  of  their  lives  car- 
ing for  children  of  younger  women.  Masters  took 
great  pride  in  their  gangs  of  young  slaves,  especially 
when  they  looked  "  fat  and  sassy,"  and  would  often 
have  them  come  to  the  great  house  yard  to  play,  par- 
ticularly when  they  had  visitors.  Freed  from  books 
and  mental  worry  of  all  kinds,  and  having  all  the   out- 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  1 5 

door  exercise  they  wanted,  the  slave  children  had 
nothing  to  do  but  eat,  play  and  grow,  and  physically 
speaking,  attain  to  good  size  and  height,  which  was  the 
special  wish  and  aim  of  their  masters,  because  a  tall, 
well-proportioned  slave  man  or  woman,  in  case  of  a 
sale,  would  always  command  the  highest  price  paid. 
So  then  it  is  quite  plain,  that  it  was  not  only  the  mas- 
ter's pride,  but  his  financial  interest  as  well,  to  have 
these  children  enjoy  every  comfort  possible,  which 
would  aid  in  their  physical  make  up,  and  to  see  to  it 
that  they  were  tenderly  treated. 

But  Mr.  Perkinson's  wife  lived  but  a  short  time, 
dying  in  1842.  She  left  one  child,  William  E.  Perkin- 
son,  known  in  his  later  life  as  Judge  W.  E.  Perkinson, 
of  Brunswick,  Missouri.  Mr.  Perkinson  built  a  new 
house  for  himself,  "  The  great  house,"  and  quarters  for 
his  slaves  on  his  own  land,  near  what  is  now  known  as 
Green  Bay,  Prince  Edward  County,  Virginia  But  I 
don't  think  that  Mrs.  Perkinson  lived  to  occupy  the  new 
house.  My  mother  was  assigned  to  a  cabin  at  the  new 
place  during  the  spring  of  1842.  But  after  the  death  of 
his  young  wife,  Mr.  Perkinson  became  greatly  dissatis- 
fied with  his  home  and  its  surroundings,  showing  that 
all  that  was  dear  to  him  was  gone,  and  that  he  longed 
for  a  change,  and  b.ing  persuaded  by  his  brother-in- 
law,  W.  B.  Bruce,  who  was  preparing  to  go  to  the 
western  country,  as  Missouri  and  Kentucky  were  then 
called,  he  dicided  to  break  up  his  Virginia  home,  and 
take  his  slaves  to  Missouri,  in  company  with  Mr.  W.  B. 
Bruce. 


1 6  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW  IT. 

The  time  to  start  was  agreed  upon,  and  those  old 
enough  to  work  were  given  a  long  holiday  from  Janu- 
ary to  April,  1844,  when  we  left  our  old  Virginia  home, 
bound  for  Chariton  County,  Missouri.  In  this  event 
there  were  no  separations  of  husbands  and  wives, 
because  of  the  fact  that  my  father  and  Bristo  were  both 
dead,  and  they  were  the  only  married  men  in  the  Bruce 
family. 

Among  the  slaves  that  were  given  to  Mr.  Perkin- 
son  by  his  father  was  only  one  marrried  man,  uncle 
Watt,  as  we  called  him,  and  he  and  his  wife  and  child- 
ren were  carried  along  with  the  rest  of  us. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  great  preparations  made 
for  our  start  to  the  West  There  were  three  large 
wagons  in  the  outfit,  one  for  the  whites  and  two  for  the 
slaves.  The  whites  in  the  party  were  Messrs.  Perkinson, 
Bruce,  Samuel  Wooten,  and  James  Dorsell.  The  line 
of  march  was  struck  early  in  April,  1844.  I  remember 
that  I  was  delighted  with  the  beautiful  sceneries,  towns, 
rivers,  people  in  their  different  styles  of  costumes,  and 
so  many  strange  things  that  I  saw  on  that  trip  from 
our  old  home  to  Louisville.  But  the'  most  wonderful 
experience  to  me  was,  when  we  took  a  steamer  at 
Louisville  for  St.  Louis.  The  idea  of  a  house  floating 
on  the  water  was  a  new  one  to  me,  at  least,  and  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  any  of  the  white  men  of  the  party 
had  ever  seen  a  steamboat  before. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  1 7 

I  am  unable  to  recall  the  route,  and  the  many 
sights,  and  incidents  of  that  long  trip  of  nearly  fifteen 
hundred  miles,  and  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  it. 
But  finally  we  reached  our  destination,  which  was  the 
home  of  Jack  Perkinson,  brother  of  Mr.  Pettis  Perkin- 
son,  about  June  or  July,  1844.  His  place  was  located 
about  seven  or  eight  miles  from  Keytesville,  Missouri. 
At  that  time  this  country  was  sparsely  settled  ;  a  farm 
house  could  be  only  seen  in  every  eight  or  ten  miles. 
I  was  greatly  pleased  with  the  country,  for  there  was 
plenty  of  everything  to  live  on,  game,  fish,  wild  fruits, 
and  berries.  The  only  drawback  to  our  pleasure  was 
Jack  Perkinson,  who  was  the  meanest  man  I  had  ever 
seen.  He  had  about  thirty-five  slaves  on  his  large  farm 
and  could  and  did  raise  more  noise,  do  more  thrashing 
of  men,  women  and  children,  than  any  other  man  in 
that  county. 

Our  folks  were  soon  hired  out  to  work  in  the  to- 
bacco factories  at  Keytesville,  except  the  old  women, 
and  such  children  as  were  too  small  to  be  put  to  work. 
I  was  left  at  this  place  with  my  mother  and  her 
younger  children  and  was  happy.  I  was  too  young  to 
be  put  to  work,  and  there  being  on  the  farm  four  or 
five  boys  about  my  age,  spent  my  time  with  them  hunt- 
ing and  fishing.  There  was  a  creek  near  by  in  which 
we  caught  plenty  of  fish.  We  made  lines  of  hemp 
grown  on  the  farm  and  hooks  of  bent  pins.  When  we 
got  a  bite,  up  went  the  pole  and  quite  often  the  fish, 
eight  or  ten  feet  in  the  air.  We  never  waited  for  what 
is  called  a  good  bite,  for  if  we  did  the  fish  would  get 
the  bait  and  escape  capture,  or  get  off  when  hooked  if 
not  thrown  quickly  upon  the  land.  But  fish  then  were 
very  plentiful  and  not  as   scary  as   now      The   hardest 


1 8  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

job  with  us  was  digging  bait.     We  often  brought  home 
as  much  as  five  pounds  offish  in  a  day. 

There  was  game  in  abundance,  but  our  hunting 
was  always  for  young  rabbits  and  squirrels,  and  we 
hunted  them  with  hounds  brought  with  us  from  Vir- 
ginia. I  had  never  before  seen  so  many  squirrels. 
The  trees  there  were  usually  small  and  too  far  apart 
for  them  to  jump  from  tree  to  tree,  and  when  we  saw 
one  "  treed  "  by  the  dogs,  one  of  us  climbed  up  and 
forced  it  to  jump,  and  when  it  did,  in  nine  cases  out  of 
ten  the  dogs  would  catch  it.  We  often  got  six  or  eight 
in  a  day's  hunting. 

Another  sport  which  we  enjoyed  was  gathering 
the  eggs  of  prairie  chickens.  On  account  of  the  dan- 
ger of  snake  bites,  we  were  somewhat  restricted  in  the 
pursuit  of  this  pleasure,  being  forbidden  to  go  far  away 
from  the  cabins.  Their  eggs  were  not  quite  as  large 
as  the  domestic  hen's,  but  are  of  a  very  fine  flavor. 

North  of  Jack  Peikinson's  farm  was  a  great  ex- 
panse of  prairie  four  or  five  miles  wide  and  probably 
twenty  or  thirty  long — indeed  it  might  have  been  fifty 
miles  long.  There  were  a  great  many  snakes  of  vari- 
ous sizes  and.  kinds,  but  the  most  dangerous  and  the 
one  most  dreaded  was  the  rattlesnake,  whose  bite  was 
almost  certain  death  in  those  days,  but  for  which  now 
the  doctors  have  found  so  many  cures  -  that  we  seldom 
hear  of  a  death  from  that  cause.  When  allowed  to  go 
or  when  we  could  steal  away,  which  we  very  often  did, 
we  usually  took  a  good  sized  basket  and  found  eggs 
enough  to  fill  it  before  returning.  We  saw  a  great 
many  snakes,  killing  some  and  passing  others  by, 
especially  the  large  ones.  There  were  thousands  of 
prairie    chickens    scattered    over    this    plain,  and  eggs 


SLAVERY    AS    1    SAW    IT.  1 9 

were  easily  found.  One  thing  was  in  our  favor  ;  these 
wild  chickens  never  selected  very  tall  grass  for  nests. 
But  it  almost  makes  me  shudder  now,  when  I  think  of 
it,  and  remember  that  we  were  barefooted  at  the  time, 
with  reptiles  on  every  side,  some  of  which  would  crawl 
away  or  into  their  holes  while  others  would  show  fight. 
But  none  of  us  were  bitten  by  them.  On  these  prairies 
large  herds  of  deer  could  be  seen  in  almost  any  direc- 
tion. I  have  seen  as  many  as  one  hundred  together. 
Jack  Perkinson  was  not  a  hunter,  kept  no  gun,  and  of 
course  we  had  none,  so  we  could  not  get  any  deer. 
There  were  a  great  many  wolves  around  that  place  and 
I  stood  in  mortal  fear  of  them,  but  never  had  any  en- 
counter with  one.  They  usually  prowled  about  at  night 
and  kept  the  young  slave  men  from  going  to  balls  or 
parties 

The  most  vicious  wild  animal  I  met  or  encountered 
was  the  hog.  There  were  a  great  many  of  them 
around  the  farm,  especially  in  the  timber  south  of  it. 
In  that  timber  were  some  very  large  hickory  nuts — the 
finest  I  ever  saw.  I  remember  one  occasion  when  we 
were  out  gathering  nuts,  having  our  dogs  with  us. 
They  went  a  short  distance  from  us,  but  very  soon  we 
heard  them  barking  and  saw  them  running  toward  us 
followed  by  a  drove  of  wild  hogs  in  close  proximity. 
We  hardly  had  time  to  climb  trees  for  safety.  I  was 
so  closely  pressed  that  an  old  boar  caught  my  foot, 
pulling  off  the  shoe,  but  I  held  on  to  the  limb  of  the 
tree  and  climbed  out  of  danger,  although  minus  my 
shoe.  One  minute  later  and  I  would  not  have  been 
here  to  pen  these  lines,  for  those  hogs  would  have  torn 
and  eaten  me  in  short  order.  From  my  safe  position 
in  the  tree  I  looked  down  on  those  vicious  wild  animals 


20  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

tearing  up  my  shoe.  We  had  escaped  immediate 
death,  but  were  greatly  frightened  because  the  hogs 
lay  down  under  the  trees  and  night  was  coming  on. 
We  had  shouted  for  help  but  could  not  make  ourselves 
heard.  Every  time  our  dogs  came  near,  some  big  boar 
would  chase  them  away  and  come  back  to  the  drove. 
We  reasoned  together,  and  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  we  would  drive  the  dogs  farther  away  the  hogs 
would  leave.  Being  up  trees  we  could  see  our  dogs 
for  some  distance  away  and  we  drove  them  back. 
After  a  while  the  hogs  seemed  to  have  forgotten  us. 
A  few  large  ones  got  up,  commenced  rooting  and 
grunting,  and  soon  the  drove  moved  on.  When  they 
had  gotten  a  hundred  yards  away  we  slid  down,  and 
then  such  a  race  for  the  fence  and  home.  It  was  a 
close  call.  But  we  kept  that  little  lun  mum,  for  if  Jack 
Perkinson  had  learned  of  his  narrow  escape  from  the 
loss  of  two  or  three  Negro  boys  worth  five  or  six  hun- 
dred dollars  each,  he  would  have  given  us  a  severe 
whipping. 

About  January  i,  1845,  my  mother  and  her  child- 
ren, including  myself  and  those  younger,  were  hired  to 
one  James  Means,  a  brickmaker,  living  near  Huntsville, 
Randolph  County,  Missouri.  I  remember  the  day 
when  he  came  alter  us  with  a  two-horse  team.  He 
had  several  children,  the  eldest  being  a  boy  Although 
Cyrus  was  a  year  older  than  I,  he  could  not  lick  me. 
He  and  I  had  to  feed  the  stock  and  haul  trees  to  be  cut 
into  wood  for  fire,  which  his  father  had  felled  in  the 
timber.  Mr.  Means  also  owned  a  girl  about  fourteen 
years  old  called  Cat,  and  as  soon  as  spring  came  he 
commenced  work  on  the  brick  yard  with  Cat  and  me 
as  offbearers.     This,  being  my  first  real  work,  was  fun 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  21 


for  a  while,  but  soon  became  very  hard  and  I  got 
whipped  nearly  every  day,  not  because  I  did  not  work, 
but  because  I  could  not  stand  it.  Having  to  carry  a 
double  mold  all  day  long  in  the  hot  sun  I  broke 
down.  Finally  Mr.  Means  made  for  my  special  benefit 
two  single  molds,  and  after  that  I  received  no  more 
punishment  from  him. 

Mr.  Perkinson  soon  became  disgusted  with  Mis- 
souri, and  leaving  his  slaves  in  the  care  of  W.  B.  Bruce 
to  be  hired  out  yearly,  went  back  to  Virginia.  Some 
said  it  was  a  widow,  Mrs.  Wooten,  who  took  him  back, 
while  others  believed  that  it  was  because  he  could  not 
stand  the  cursing  and  whipping  of  slaves  carried  on  by 
his  brother  Jack  whom  he  could  not  control.  This 
man,  Jack  Perkinson,  died  about  the  year  1846,  and  left 
a  wife  and  three  children.  Although  he  had  borne  the 
reputation  of  being  the  hardest  master  in  that  county, 
his  wife  was  quite  different.  When  she  took  charge  of 
the  estate,  she  hired  out  the  slaves,  most  of  them  to  the 
tobacco  factory  owners,  and  really  received  more 
money  yearly  for  them  than  when  they  worked  upon 
the  farm.  After  her  death  the  estate  passed  to  her 
children  and  was  managed  by  the  eldest  son,  Pettis, 
who  was  very  kind  to  his  slaves  until  they  became  free 
by  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  I  am  informed 
that  the  very  best  of  friendship  still  exists  between  the 
whites  and  blacks  of  that  family. 

In  January,  1846,  with  my  older  brothers  I  was 
hired  to  Judge  Applegate,  who  conducted  a  tobacco 
factory  at  Keytesville,  Missouri.  I  was  then  about  ten 
years  old,  and  although  I  had  worked  at  Mr.  Mean's 
place,  I  had  done  no  steady  work,  because  I  was 
allowed  many  liberties,  but  at  Judge  Applegate's  I  was 


22  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

kept  busy  every  minute  from  sunrise  to  sunset,  without 
being  allowed  to  speak  a  word  to  anyone.  I  was  too 
young  then  to  be  kept  in  such  close  confinement.  It 
was  so  prison-like  to  be  compelled  to  sit  during  the  en- 
tire year  under  a  large  bench  or  table  filled  with  to- 
bacco, and  tie  lugs  all  day  long  except  during  the  thirty 
minutes  allowed  for  breakfast  and  the  same  time 
allowed  for  dinner.  I  often  fell  asleep  I  could  not 
keep  awake  even  by  putting  tobacco  into  my  eyes.  I 
was  punished  by  the  overseer,  a  Mr.  Blankenship,  every 
time  he  caught  me  napping,  which  was  quite  often 
during  the  first  few  months.  But  I  soon  became  used 
to  that  kind  of  work  and  got  along  very  well  the  bal- 
ance of  that  year. 

Orders  had  been  sent  to  W.  B.  Bruce  by  Mr.  Per- 
kinson  to  bring  his  slaves  back  to  Virginia,  and  about 
March,  1847,  he  started  with  us  contrary  to  our  will. 
But  what  could  we  do  ?  Nothing  at  all.  We  finally 
got  started  by  steamboat  from  Brunswick  to  St.  Louis, 
Missouri,  and  thence  to  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  Right  here 
I  must  tell  a  little  incident  that  happened,  which  ex- 
plains why  we  were  not  landed  at  Cincinnati,  but  taken 
to  the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river,  where  we  remained 
until  the  steamboat  finished  her  business  there  and 
crossed  over  and  took  U5  on  board  again.  Deck  pas- 
sage on  the  steamer  had  been  secure'd  for  us  by  W.  B. 
Bruce,  and  there  were  on  the  same  deck  some  poor 
white  people  Just  before  reaching  Cincinnati,  Ohio, 
some  of  these  whites  told  my  mother  and  other  older 
ones,  that  when  the  boat  landed  at  Cincinnati  the  abol- 
itionists would  come  aboard  and  even  against  their  will 
take  them  away.  Of  course  our  people  did  not  know 
what    the     word     abolitionist    meant ;  they    evidently 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  .23 

thought  it  meant  some  wild  beast  or  Negro-trader,  for 
they  feared  both  and  were  greatly  frightened — so  much 
so  that  they  went  to  W.  B.  Bruce  and  informed  him  of 
what  the}'  had  been  told.  He  was  greatly  excited  and 
went  to  the  captain  of  the  boat.  I  am  unable  to  state 
what  passed  between  them,  but  my  mother  says  he 
paid  the  captain  a  sum  of  money  to  have  us  landed  on 
the  Kentucky  side  of  the  river.  At  any  rate  I  know 
we  were  put  ashore  opposite  Cincinnati,  and  remained 
there  until  the  streamer  transacted  its  business  at  Cin- 
cinnati and  then  crossed  over  and  picked  us  up.  The 
story  told  us  by  the  white  deck  passengers  had  a  great 
deal  of  truth  in  it.  I  have  since  learned  that  a  slave 
could  not  remain  a  slave  one  minute  alter  touching  the 
free  soil  of  that  state,  and  that  its  jurisdiction  extended  to 
low  water  mark  of  the  Ohio  River.  Slaves  in  transit 
had  been  taken  from  steamers  and  given  their  freedom 
in  just  such  cases  as  the  one  named  above.  A  case 
of  this  kind  had  been  taken  upon  appeal  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  state  of  Ohio,  and  a  decision  handed  down 
in  favor  of  the  freedom  of  the  slave.  The  ignorance  of 
these  women  caused  me  to  work  as  a  slave  for  seven- 
teen years  afterwards 


24  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Early  in  the  spring  of  1847,  we  reached  the  Per- 
kinson  farm  in  Virginia,  where  we  found  our  master, 
whom  we  had  not  seen  for  nearly  three  years,  and  his 
son  Willie,  as  he  was  then  called,  with  hired  slaves 
cultivating  the  old  farm.  My  older  brothers,  James 
and  Calvin,  were  at  once  hired  to  Mr.  Hawkins,  a 
brickmaker,  at  Farmville,  Prince  Edward  County, 
Virginia. 

In  as  much  as  it  was  not  the  custom  in  that  state 
to  put  slaves  at  work  in  the  field  before  they  had 
reached  thirteen  years  of  age,  I,  being  less,  was 
allowed  to  eat  play  and  grow,  and  I  think  the  happiest 
doys  of  my  boyhood  were  spent  here  There  were 
seven  or  eight  boys  about  my  age  belonging  to  Mrs 
Perkinson,  living  less  than  a  mile  distam  on  adjoining 
farms,  who  also  enjoyed  the  same  privileges,  and  there 
were  four  or  five  hounds  which  we  could  take  out  rab- 
bit hunting  when  we  wished  to  do  so  It  was  grand 
sport  to  see  five  or  six  hounds  in  line  on  a  trail  and  to 
hear  the  sweet  music  of  these  trained  fox  hounds. 
To  us,  at  least,  it  was  sweet  music.  -We  roamed  over 
the  neighboring  lands  hunting  and  often  catching  rab- 
bits, which  we  brought  home  During  the  fishing  sea- 
son we  often  went  angling  in  the  creeks  that  meand- 
ered through  these  lands  to  the  millpond  which 
furnished  the  water  for  the  mill  near  by,  which  was 
run  by  Uncle  Radford,  an  old  trustworthy  slave  belong- 
ing   t )    Mrs.  Prudence    Perkinson.     He    was    the  lone 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  2$ 

miller,  and  ground  wheat  and  corn  for  the  entire 
neighborhood. 

There  were  several  orchards  of  very  fine  fruit  on 
these  farms.  We  were  allowed  to  enjoy  the  apples, 
peaches,  cherries  and  plums,  to  our  heart's  content. 
Besides,  there  were  large  quantities  of  wild  berries  and 
nuts,  especially  chinquapins.  When  we  had  nothing 
else  to  do  in  the  way  of  enjoyment  we  played  the  game 
of  "  shinney  " — a  game  that  gave  great  pleasure  to  us 
all.  I  was  playmate  and  guardian  for  Willie  Perkin- 
son,  and  in  addition  to  this  I  had  a  standing  duty  to 
perform,  which  was  to  drive  up  three  cows  every  after- 
noon. At  this  time  Willie  was  old  enough  to  attend 
the  school  which  was  about  two  miles  away,  and  I  had 
to  go  with  him  in  the  forenoon  and  return  for  him  in 
the  afternoon.  He  usually  went  with  me  after  the 
cows. 

I  had  been  taught  the  alphabet  while  in  Missouri 
and  could  spell  "  baker,"  "  lady,"  "  shady,"  and  such 
words  of  two  syllables,  and  Willie  took  great  pride  in 
teaching  me  his  lessons  of  each  day  from  his  books, 
as  I  had  none  and  my  mother  had  no  money  to  buy 
any  for  me.  This  continued  tor  about  a  \  ear  before 
the  boy's  aunt,  Mrs.  Prudence  Perkinson,  who  had 
cared  for  Willie  while  we  were  in  Missouri, 
found  it  out,  and  I  assure  you,  dear  reader,  she  raised 
a  great  row  with  our  master  about  it.  She  insisted 
thit  it  was  a  crime  to  teach  a  Negro  to  read,  and  that 
it  would  spoil  him,  but  our  owner  seemed  not  to  care 
anything  about  it  and  did  nothing  to  stop  it,  for  after- 
ward I  frequently  had  him  correct  my  spelling.  In 
after  years  I  learned  that  he  was  glad  that  his  Negroes 


26  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

could  read,  especially  the  Bible,  but  he  was  opposed  to 
their  being  taught  writing. 

But  my  good  time  ended  when  I  was  put  to  the 
plow  in  the  Spring  of  1848.  The  land  was  hilly  and 
rocky.  I,  being  of  light  weight,  could  not  hold  the 
plow  steadily  in  the  ground,  however  hard  I  tried.  My 
master  was  my  trainer  and  slapped  my  jaws  several 
times  for  that  which  I  could  not  prevent.  I  knew 
then  as  well  as  I  know  now, that  this  was  unjust  punish- 
ment. But  after  the  breaking  season  and  planting  the 
crop  of  corn  and  tobacco  was  over,  I  was  given  a 
lighter  single  horse  plow  and  enjoyed  the  change  and 
the  work.  Compared  with  some  of  his  neighbors,  our 
master  was  not  a  hard  man  on  his  slaves,  because  we 
enjoyed  many  privileges  that  other  slaves  did  not  have. 
Some  slave  owners  did  not  feed  well,  causing  their 
slaves  to  steal  chickens,  hogs  and  sheep  from  them  or 
from  other  owners.  Bacon  and  bread  with  an  occas- 
sional meal  of  beef  was  the  feed  through  the  entire 
year  ;  but  our  master  gave  us  all  we  could  eat,, 
together  with  such  vegetables  as  were  raised  on  the 
farm.  My  mother  was  the  cook  for  the  families,  white 
and  black,  and  of  course  I  fared  well  as  to  loo  J 

Willie  Perkinson  had  become  as  one  of  us  and 
regarded  my  mother  as  his  mother.  He  played  with 
the  colored  boys  from  the  time  he  got  home  from 
school  till  bedtime,  and  again  in  the  morning  till  time 
to  go  to  school,  and  every  Saturday  and  Sunday. 
Having  learned  to  spell  I  kept  it  up,  and  took  lessons 
from  Willie  as  often  as  I  could.  My  younger  brother^ 
B.  K.  Bruce  (now  Ex-Senator)  had  succeeded  me  as 
playmate  and  guardian  of  Willie,  and  being  also  anx- 
ious  to  learn,  soon  caught  up  with  me,  and  by  Willie's 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  27 

aid  went  ahead  of  me  and  has  held  his  place  during  all 
the  years  since. 

Mrs.  Prudence  Perkinson  and  her  son  Lemuel, 
lived  about  one  mile  from  our  place,  and  they  owned 
about  fifty  field  hands,  as  they  were  called.  They  also 
had  an  overseer  or  negro-driver  whose  pay  consisted 
of  a  certain  percentage  of  the  crop. 

The  larger  the  crop  the  larger  his  share  would  be, 
and  having  no  money  interest  in  the  slaves  he  drove 
them  night  and  day  without  mercy.  This  overseer  was 
a  mean  and  cruel  man  and  would,  if  not  checked  by 
her,  whip  some  one  every  day.  Lemuel  Perkinson, 
was  a  man  who  spent  his  time  in  pleasure  seeking,such 
as  fox-hunting,  fishing,  horse  racing  and  other  sports, 
and  was  away  from  home  a  great  deal,  so  much  so  that 
he  paid  little  attention  to  the  management  of  the  farm. 
It  was  left  to  the  care  of  his  mother  and  the  overseer. 
Mrs  Sarah  Perkinson,  wife  of  Lemuel  Perkinson,  was 
a  dear  good  woman  and  was  beloved  by  all  her  slaves 
as  long  as  I  knew  her,  and  I  am  informed  that  she  is 
living  now  and  is  still  beloved  by  her  ex-slaves 
Mrs.  Prudence  Perkinson  would  not  allow  her  over- 
seer to  whip  a  grown  slave  without  her  consent, 
because  I  have  known  of  cases  where  the  overseer 
was  about  to  whip  a  slave  when  he  would  break  loose 
and  run  to  his  old  mistress.  If  it  was  a  bad  case  she 
would  punish  the  slave  by  taking  off  her  slipper  and 
slapping  his  jaws  with  it.  They  were  quite  willing  to 
take  that  rather  than  be  punished  by  the  overseer  who 
would  often  have  them  take  off  the  shirt  to  be  whipped 
on  their  bare  backs. 

Mrs.  Prudence  Perkinson  was  a  kind  hearted 
woman,  but    when   angry  and  under  the  excitement  of 


, 


28  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

the  moment  would  order  a  servant  whipped,  but  before 
the  overseer  could  carry  it  out  would  change  her  mind, 
I  recall  a  case  where  her  cook,  Annica,  had  sauced  her 
and  refused  to  stop  talking  when  told  to  do  so.  She 
sent  for  the  overseer  to  come  to  the  Great  House  to 
whip  her  (Annica  )  He  came  and  called  her  out  ;  she 
refused  to  obey.  He  then  pulled  her  outside  and 
struck  her  two  licks  with  his  whip,  when  her  u  old  mis- 
tress "  promptly  stopped  him  and  abused  him,  and 
drove  him  out  of  the  Great  House  yard  for  his  brutal- 
ity. She  went  to  Annica,  spoke  kindly  to  her  and 
asked  her  if  she  was  hurt. 

I  write  of  this  as  I  saw  it.  I  can  recall  only  one  or 
two  instances  where  our  master  whipped  a  grown  per- 
son, but  when  he  had  it  to  do  or  felt  that  it  should  be 
done,  he  did  it  well. 

Our  owner  had  one  serious  weakness  which  was 
very  objectionable  to  us,  and  one  in  which  he  was  the 
exception  and  not  the  rule  of  the  master  class.  It  was 
this:  He  would  associate  with  "  poor  white  trash," 
would  often  invite  them  to  dine  with  him,  and  the  habit 
remained  with  him  during  his  entire  life. 

There  lived  near  our  farm  two  poor  white  men, 
better  known  at  the  South  as  "poor  white  trash," 
named  John  Flippen  and  Sam  Hawkins.  These  men 
were  too  lazy  to  do  steady  work  and  made  their  living 
by  doing  chores  for  the  rich  and  killing  hawks  and 
crows  at  so  much  a  piece,  for  the  owner  of  the  land  on 
which  they  were  destroyed.  These  men  would  watch 
us  and  report  to  our  master  everything  they  saw  us  do 
that  wTas  a  violation  of  rules.  I  recall  one  instance  in 
which  I  was  whipped  on  account  of  a  lie  told  by  Sam 
Hawkins.     The  facts  in  the  case  are  as  follows:   I  was 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  2Q. 

sent  one  Saturday  afternoon  to  Major  Price's  place 
after  some  garden  seed  and  was  cautioned  not  to 
ride  the  mare  hard,  and  I  did  not  therefore  take  her 
out  of  a  walk  or  a  very  slow  trot  as  it  was  not  to  my 
interest  to  do  otherwise,  for  the  distance  was  but  two 
miles  and  if  I  came  back  before  sundown  I  would 
have  to  go  into  the  field  to  work  again.  I  got  back 
about  sundown,  but  had  met  Sam  Hawkins  on  the  road 
as  I  went,  and  he  was  at  our  house  when  I  returned. 
He  was  invited  to  supper,  and  while  at  the  table  told 
my  master  that  I  had  the  mare  in  a  gallop  when  he 
met  me.  Coffee  was  very  costly  at  that  time,  too  high 
for  the  "  poor  white  trash;"  none  but  the  rich  could 
afford  it,  and  the  only  chance  these  poor  whites  had  to 
get  a  cup  of  coffee  was  when  so  invited.  It  was  always 
a  Godsend  to  them,  not  only  the  good  meal,  but  the 
honor  of  dining  with  the  "  BIG  BUGS."  Being  illiter- 
ate their  conversation  could  not  exceed  what  they  had 
seen  and  heard,  and  to  please  their  masters,  for  such 
they  were  to  these  poor  whites  almost  as  much  as  to 
their  slaves,  they  told  everything  they  had  seen  the 
slaves  do,  and  oftener  more. 

After  supper  that  evening  my  master  sent  for  me. 
When  I  came,  he  had  a  switch  in  his  hand  and  pro- 
ceeded to  explain  why  he  was  going  to  whip  me.  I 
pleaded  innocence  and  positively  disputed  the  charge. 
At  this  he  then  became  angry  and  whipped  me.  When 
he  stopped  he  said  it  was  not  so  much  for  the  fast  rid- 
ing that  he  had  punished  me  as  it  was  for  disputing  a 
white  man's  word.  Fool  that  I  was  then,  for  I  would 
not  have  received  any  more  whipping  at  that  time,  but 
knowing  that  I  was  not  guilty  I  said  so  again  and  he 
immediately  flogged    me   again.     When   he  stopped  he 


• 


30  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

asked  me  in  a  loud  tone  of  voice,  "Will  you  have  the 
impudence  to  dispute  a  white  man's  word  again?"  My 
answer  was  "  No  sir."  That  was  the  last  whipping  he 
ever  gave  me,  and  that  on  account  of  the  lie  told  by  a 
poor  white  man.  But  I  lived  not  only  to  dispute  the 
word  of  these  poor  whites  in  their  presence,  but  in  after 
years  abused  and  threatened  to  punish  them  for  tress- 
passing upon  his  lands. 

Other  ex-slaves  can  relate  many  such  cases  as  the 
Hawkins'  case  and  such  instances,  in  my  opinion,  have 
been  the  cause  of  the  intense  hatred  of  slaves  against 
the  poor  whites  of  the  South,  and  I  believe  that  from 
such  troubles  originates  the  term  "  poor  white  trash." 
In  many  ways  this  unfortunate  class  of  Southern  peo- 
ple had  but  a  few  more  privileges  than  the  slaves. 
True,  they  were  free,  could  go  where  they  pleased 
without  a  "  pass,"  but  they  could  not,  with  impunity, 
dispute  the  word  of  the  rich  in  anything,  and  obeyed 
their  masters  as  did  the  slaves.  It  has  been  stated  by 
many  writers,  and  I  accept  it  as  true,  that  the  Emanci- 
pation Proclamation  issued  by  President  Lincoln,  not 
only  freed  the  slaves,  but  the  poor  whites  of  the  South 
as  well,  for  they  occupied  a  condition  nearly  approach- 
ing that  of  slavery. 

They  were  nominally  free,  but  that  freedom  was 
greatly  restricted  on  account  of  the  prejudice  against 
them  as  a  class.  They  were  often  employed  by  the 
ruling  class  to  do  small  jobs  of  work  and  while  so 
engaged  were  not  allowed,  even  to  eat  with  them  at 
the  same  table,  neither  could  they  in  any  way  associate 
or  intermarry  with  the  upper  classes.  Of  course  this 
unfortunate  class  of  people  had  a  vote,  but  it  was 
always  cast   just  as  the  master  class  directed,  and  not 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  3 1 

as  the  voter  desired,  if  he  had  a  desire.  I  recall  very 
clearly  the  fact,  that  at  each  County,  State  or  National 
election  the  poor  white  people  were  hauled  to  the  vot- 
ing places  in  wagons  belonging  to  the  aristocratic  class. 
They  also  furnished  a  prepared  ballot  for  each  man  and 
woe  unto  that  poor  white  man  who  failed  to  vote  that 
ticket  or  come  when  sent  for.  Each  one  of  the 
master  class  kept  a  strict  lookout  for  every  poor  white 
man  in  his  neighborhood  and  on  election  days  sent  his 
wagons  and  brought  each  one  of  these  voters  to  the 
polls. 

When  the  war  of  the  Rebellion  broke  out  this 
class  of  men  constituted  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Con- 
federate army  and  rendered  good  service  for  their 
masters,  who  had  only  to  speak  a  kind  word  to  them 
when  they  would  take  the  oath  and  obediently  march 
to  the  front,  officered  by  the  aristocratic  class.  These 
poor  people  contributed  their  full  share  to  the  death 
roll  of  the  Southern  Army. 

True    to    his    low   instinct,  the    poor  white   man  is 

represented   at   the  South  as  the  enemy  of  the  Colored 

people  to-day,  just  as  he  was  before  the  war,  and  is  still 

as   illiterate  as    he  was  then.     He  is  not  far  enough  up 

the  scale  to  see  the  advantage  of  education,  and  will  not 

send  his  children  to  school,  nor  allow  the  Colored  child 

to  go,  if  it  is  in  his  power  to  prevent  it.     It  is  this  class 

who  burn  the  school  houses  in  the   Southland  to-day. 

The  aristocracy  and  the  Colored  people  of  the  South 
would  get  along  splendidly,  were  it  not  for  these  poor 
whites,  who  are  the  leaders  in  all  the  disorders,  lynch- 
ings  and  the  like.  The  South  will  be  the  garden  spot, 
the  cradle  of  liberty,  the  haven  of  America,  when  the 
typical  poor  whites  of  that  section  shall  have  died  off, 
removed,  or  become  educated,  and  not  till  then. 


32  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  III. 

During  the  summer,  in  Virginia  and  other  south- 
ern states,  slaves  when  threatened  or  after  punishment 
would  escape  to  the  woods  or  some  other  hiding  place. 
They  were  then  called  runaways,  or  runaway  Negroes, 
and  when  not  caught  would  stay  away  from  home 
until  driven  back  by  cold  weather.  Usually  they  would 
go  to  some  other  part  of  the  state,  where  they  were  not 
so  well  known,  and  a  few  who  had  the  moral  courage 
would  make  their  way  to  the  North,  and  thus  gain  their 
freedom.  But  such  cases  were  rare.  Some,  if  cap- 
tured and  not  wishing  to  go  back  to  their  masters, 
would  neither  give  their  correct  name  nor  that  of  their 
owner;  and  in  such  cases,  if  the  master  had  not  seen 
the  notice  of  sale  posted  by  the  officers  of  the  county 
wherein  they  were  captured,  and  which  usually  gave 
the  runaway's  personal  description,  they  were  sold  to 
the  highest  bidders,  and  their  masters  lost  them  and  the 
county  in  which  the  capture  was  effected  got  the  pro- 
ceeds, less  the  expense  of  capture.  A  runawa}'  often 
chose  that  course  in  order  to  get  out  of  the  hands  of  a 
hard  master,  thinking  that  he  could  not  do  worse  in  any 
event,  while  he  might  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  better 
master.  Often  they  were  bought  by  Negro  traders 
for  the  cotton  fields  of  the  South. 

The  white  children  had  great  fear  of  runaway 
Negroes,  so  much  so  that  their  mothers  would  use  the 
term  "runaway  nigger"  to  scare  their  babies  or  to 
quiet  them.     I  was  greatly  afraid  of  th^m,  too,  because 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  33 

I  had  heard  so  many  horrible  stories  told  of  their  bru- 
tality, but  I  have  no  personal  recollections  of  any  such 
case.  I  recall  two  instances  where  I  had  dealings  with 
them.  The  first  was  as  follows  : — One  of  our  cows  had 
a  calf  two  or  three  days  old  hid  in  the  timber  land,  and 
I  was  sent  to  find  it,  and  in  doing  so  went  into  the 
woods  where  the  underbrush  was  quite  thick,  and  sud- 
denly came  upon  a  rough-looking,  half- clad  black  man. 
I  was  too  close  or  too  much  frightened  to  run  from  him 
and  stood  speechless.  He  spoke  pleasantly,  telling  me 
where  I  could  find  the  calf,  and  stated  that  if  I  told  the 
white  people  about  him  he  would  come  back  and  kill 
me.  He  had  a  piece  of  roasted  pork  and  "  ashcake," 
and  offered  me  some  which  I  was  afraid  to  refuse  Of 
course  I  did  not  inform  on  him. 

The  other  occasion  was  when  I  was  sent  to  the 
mill  about  three  miles  distant  with  an  ox-team  and  two 
or  three  bags  of  corn  and  wheat.  I  did  not  get  away 
from  the  mill  until  near  sundown,  and  when  near  home, 
while  passing  through  a  body  of  timber  land,  a  black 
man  stepped  out  in  front  of  my  oxen  and  stopped  them. 
He  looked  vicious  but  said  nothing.  He  got  into  the 
cart  and  cut  one  bag  in  half,  taking  about  one  bushel  of 
meal,  jumped  out  and  let  me  go  without  further  trouble. 
I  told  my  master  about  this  but  nothing  was  done,  it 
being  Saturday  night,  and  the  only  man  near  by  who 
kept  Negro  hounds  was  Thomas  Rudd,  who  would  not 
go  Negro  hunting  on  Sunday. 

These  runaways  lived  upon  stolen  pigs  and  sheep, 
and  the  hardest  thing  for  them  to  get  was  salt  and 
bread.  It  was  really  dangerous  for  any  person  to 
betray  one  of  these  fellows,  for  when  caught  and  car- 
ried home  to  their  masters,  they  were  usually  whipped. 


34  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

But  they  would  run  away  again,  come  back,  lie  in  wait 
for  their  betrayer,  and  punish  him  severely.  Those 
who  hired  slaves  belonging  to  estates,  which  under  the 
law  had  to  be  hired  out  every  year,  often  suffered  in 
this  respect,  for  it  sometimes  happened  that  the  slaves 
would  run  away  in  the  spring  and  remain  away  until 
Christmas,  when  they  would  report  to  the  guardian  of 
the  estate,  ready  to  be  hiied  out  for  another  year,  while 
the  employer  was  compelled  to  pay  for  the  last  year's 
service.     I  have  known  of  several  such  cases. 

I  hope  from  wrhat  I  have  said  about  "  runaways," 
that  my  readers  will  not  form  the  opinion  that  all  slave 
men  who  imagined  themselves  treated  harshly  ran 
away,  or  that  they  were  all  too  lazy  to  work  in  the  hot 
weather  and  took  to  the  woods,  or  that  all  masters  were 
so  brutal  that  their  slaves  were  compelled  to  run  away 
to  save  life.  There  were  masters  of  different  disposi- 
tions and  temperaments.  Many  owners  treated  their 
slaves  so  humanely  that  they  never  ran  away,  although 
they  were  sometimes  punished;  others  really  felt  grieved 
for  it  to  be  known,  that  one  of  their  slaves  had  been 
compelled  to  run  away;  others  allowed  the  overseer  to 
treat  their  slaves  with  such  brutality  that  they  were 
forced  to  run  away,  and  when  they  did,  the  condition  of 
those  remaining  was  bettered,  because  the  master's 
attention  would  be  called  to  the  fact,  and  he  would 
limit  the  power  of  the  overseer  to  punish  at  will;  others 
never  whipped  grown  slaves  and  would  not  allow  any 
one  else  to  do  so.  I  recall  an  instance  showing  the 
viciousness  of  these  runaway  Negroes,  which  I  think 
illustrates  the  point  as  to  their  hard  character. 

There  was  a  slave  named  Bluford,  belonging  to  a 
hemp  raiser  in  Salene  County,  Missouri,  who  owned  a 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  35 

large  plantation,  and  owned  a  large  number  of  slaves', 
and  who  had  a  poor  white  man  employed  as  overseer. 
This  overseer  got  angry  at  Bluford  for  some  offence  or 
neglect,  and  attempted  to  flog  him,  but  instead  got 
flogged  himself  and  reported  to  the  master  the  treat- 
ment he  had  received.  The  master  sent  for  Bluford, 
and  without  making  inquiry  to  ascertain  the  facts,  pro- 
ceeded to  punish  the  slave,  who  in  turn  flogged  his 
master  and  then  ran  away.  The  Missouri  River  is  a 
very  wide,  rapid  and  dangerous  stream,  and  runs  be- 
tween Howard  and  Salem  counties,  only  a  few  miles 
from  his  master's  plantation.  By  some  means  Bluford 
crossed  it  and  hid  himself  in  a  wheat  field  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river  to  wait  till  dark.  He  told  me  that  he 
was  hid  in  a  corner  of  a  fence,  and  the  wheat  being 
ripe  was  ready  to  be  cut.  Now  what  spirit  lead  the 
owner  of  the  field  to  get  over  the  fence  right  in  that 
corner  can  never  be  known,  but  he  did,  and  found  Blu- 
ford, whom  he  grabbed  in  the  collar,  and  refused  to  let 
go  after  being  warned.  Bluford  was  armed  with  a 
butcher's  knife,  and  with  it  he  cut  the  man  across  the 
abdomen,  severing  it  to  the  backbone,  causing  death  in 
a  very  short  time.  Hunting  parties  were  immediately 
organized,  who  searched  the  surrounding  country  in 
vain  for  the  murderer.  I  think  this  occurred  in  July, 
1855.  I  had  been  acquainted  with  Bluford  previous  to 
that  time. 

Some  time  during  the  spring  of  1865,  I  met  Blu- 
ford on  the  street  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  after  he  had 
been  to  Kansas  City,  Missouri,  to  meet  some  relative. 
He  gave  me  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  told  me  that  he 
followed  Grand  River  to  its  head  water,  which  was  in 
Iowa,  then  made  his  way  to  Des  Moines,  where  he  re- 


$6  SLAVERY    AS    1    SAW    IT. 

mained    until  the  war,  when  he  enlisted  and  served   to 
the  close  of  the  war. 

Bluford  could  read  quite  well  when  I  knew  him  in 
1855,  and  had  paid  attention  to  the  maps  and  rivers  of 
the  state  of  Missouri. 

Then  there  were  different  kinds  of  slaves,  the  lazy 
fellow,  who  would  not  work  at  all,  unless  forced  to  do 
so,  and  required  to  be  watched,  the  good  man,  who 
patiently  submitted  to  everything,  and  trusted  in  the 
Lord  to  save  his  soul;  and  then  there  was  the  one  who 
wrould  not  yield  to  punishment  of  any  kind,  but  would 
fight  until  overcome  by  numbers,  and  in  most  cases  be 
severely  whipped;  he  would  then  go  to  the  woods  or 
swamps,  and  was  hard  to  capture,  being  usually  armed 
with  an  axe,  corn  knife,  or  some  dangerous  weapon-,  as 
fire  arms  at  that  time  were  not  obtainable.  Then  there 
was  the  unruly  slave,  whom  no  master  particularly 
wanted  for  several  reasons;  first,  he  would  not  submit 
to  any  kind  of  corporal  punishment;  second,  it  was  hard 
to  determine  which  was  the  master  or  which  the  slave; 
third,  he  worked  when  he  pleased  to  do  so;  fourth,  no 
one  would  buy  him,  not  even  the  Negro  trader,  because 
he  could  not  take  possession  of  him  without  his  con- 
sent, and  of  course  he  could  not  get  that.  He  could 
only  be  taken  dead,  and  was  worth  too  much  money 
alive  to  be  killed  in  order  to  conquer  him.  Often  mas- 
ters gathered  a  gang  of  friends,  surrounded  such  fel- 
lows, and  punished  them  severely,  and  at  other  times 
the  slave  would  arm  himself  with  an  axe,  or  something 
dangerous,  and  threaten  death  to  any  one  coming 
within  his  reach.  They  could  not  afford  to  shoot  him 
on  account  of  the  money  in  him,  and  of  course  they  left 
him.     This  class  of  slaves  were  usually  industrious,  but 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.     ■  2)7 


very  impudent.  There  were  thousands  of  that  class, 
who  spent  their  lives  in  their  master's  service,  doing 
his  work  undisturbed,  because  the  master  understood 
the  slave. 

I  am  reminded  of  a  fight  I  once  witnessed  between 
a  slave  and  his  master.  They  were  both  recognized 
bullies.  The  master  was  a  farmer,  whose  name  I  shall 
call  Mr.  W.,  who  lived  about  three  miles  from  Bruns- 
wick, Missouri.  He  had,  by  marriage  I  think,  gained 
possession  of  a  slave  named  Armstead  Soon  after 
arriving:  at  his  new  home  his  master  and  he  had  some 
words;  his  master  ordered  him  to  "  shut  up,"  which  he 
refused  to  do.  The  master  struck  him  and  he  returned 
the  blow.  Then  Mr.  W.  said,  "  Well,  sir,  if  that  is 
your  game  I  am  your  man,  and  I  tell  you  right  now,  if 
you  lick  me  I'll  take  it  as  my  share,  and  that  will  end 
it,  but  if  I  lick  you,  then  you  are  to  stand  and  receive 
twenty  lashes." 

They  were  out  in  an  open  field  near  the  public 
road,  where  there  was  nothing  to  interfere  I  was  on 
a  wagon  in  the  road,  about  forty  yards  distant.  Then 
commenced  the  prettiest  fist  and  skull  fight  I  ever  wit- 
nessed, lasting,  it  seemed,  a  full  half  hour;  both  went 
down  several  times;  they  clinched  once  or  twice,  and  had 
the  field  for  a  ring,  and  mi^ht  have  occupied  more  of  it 
than  they  did,  but  they  confined  themselves  to  about 
one  fourth  of  an  acre.  Of  course  Armstead  had  my 
sympathy  throughout,  because  I  wanted  to  see  whether 
Mr.  W.  would  keep  his  word.  They  were  both  bloody 
and  also  muddy,  but  grit  to  the  backbone.  Finally  my 
man  went  down  and  could  not  come  to  time,  and  cried 
out,  "  Enough."  There  was  a  creek  near  by,  and  they 
both  went  to  it  to  wash.     I  left,  but   was  informed  that 


38  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

the  agreement  was  carried  out,  except  that  Mr.  W. 
gave  his  whipped  man  but  six  light  strokes  over  his 
vest.  Could  he  have  done  less  ?  But  I  have  been  in- 
formed that  these  men  got  along  well  afterwards  with- 
out fighting,  and  lived  together  as  master  and  slave 
until  the  war. 

I  believe  in  that  old  saying,  that  blood  will  tell.  It 
is  found  to  be  true  in  animals  by  actual  tests,  and  if  we 
will  push  our  investigations  a  little  further,  we  will  find 
it  true  as  to  human  beings. 

Of  course  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as  teach- 
ing the  doctrine,  that  blood  is  to  be  divided  into  white 
blood  and  black  blood,  but  on  the  contrary,  I  wish  to 
be  understood  as  meaning  that  it  should  be  divided  into 
inferior  and  superior,  regardless  of  the  color  of  the 
individual  in  whose  veins  it  flows. 

The  fact  of  the  presence  in  the  South,  especially,  of 
the  large  number  of  the  typical  poor  whites,  held,  as 
it  were,  in  a  degree  of  slavery,  is  a  contradiction  of  the 
assertion,  that  white  blood  alone  is  superior. 

If  this  class  had  superior  blood  in  their  veins, 
(which  I  deny)  is  there  a  sane  man  who  will  believe 
that  they  would  have  remained  in  the  South,  genera- 
tions after  generations,  filling  menial  positions,  with  no 
perceptible  degree  of  advancement  ?  I  venture  to  say 
not.  The  truth  is,  that  they  had  inferior  blood;  nothing 
more.  To  further  explain  what  I  mean  relative  to 
inferior  and  superior  blood  among  slaves,  I  will  state, 
that  there  were  thousands  of  high-toned  and  high-spir- 
ited slaves,  who  had  as  much  self-respect  as  their  mas- 
ters, and  who  were  industrious,  reliable  and  truthful, 
and  could  be  depended  upon  by  their  masters  in  all 
cases. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  39 

These  slaves  knew  their  own  helpless  condition. 
They  also  knew  that  they  had  no  rights  under  the  laws 
of  the  land,  and  that  they  were,  by  those  same  laws, 
the  chattels  of  their  masters,  and  that  they  owed  them 
their  services  during  their  natural  lives,  and  that  the 
masters  alone  could  make  their  lives  pleasant  or  miser- 
able. But  having  superior  blood  in  their  veins,  they 
did  not  give  up  in  abject  servility,  but  held  up  their 
heads  and  proceeded  to  do  the  next  best  thing  under 
the  circumstances,  which  was,  to  so  live  and  act  as  to 
win  the  confidence  of  their  masters,  which  could  only 
be  done  by  faithful  service  and  an  upright  life. 

Such  slaves  as  these  were  always  the  reliables,  and 
the  ones  whom  the  master  trusted  and  seldom  had  oc- 
casion to  even  scold  for  neglect  of  duty.  They  spent 
their  lives  in  their  master's  service,  and  reared  up  their 
children  in  the  same  service. 

Such  slaves  were  to  be  found  wherever  the  insti- 
tution of  slavery  existed,  and  when  they  were  freed 
by  the  war,  these  traits  which  they  had  exhibited  for 
generations  to  such  good  effect,  were  brought  into 
greater  activity,  and  have  been  largely  instrumental  in 
making  the  record  of  which  we  feel  so  proud  to-day. 
Th  s  class  of  slaves  not  only  looked  after  their  own 
interests,  but  their  master's  as  well,  even  in  his  ab- 
sence. 

I  recall  a  case  in  point.  Some  time  during  the  fall 
of  1857,  in  company  with  a  man  belonging  to  Dr. 
Watts,  who  lived  near  Brunswick,  Missouri,  as  we 
were  passing  his  master's  farm,"  one  Sunday  night,  we 
heard  cattle  in  the  corn  field  destroying  green  corn. 
These  cattle  had  pushed  down  the  fence.  I  said  to  the 
man:  "Let  us  drive  them   out  and  put  up  the  fence." 


40  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

His  reply  was,  "  It's  Massa's  corn  and  Massa's  cattle, 
and  I  don't  care  how  much  they  destroy;  he  won't 
thank  me  for  driving  them  out,  and  I  will  not  do  it." 

To  the  class  of  superior  blooded  slaves  may  be 
added  the  fighting  fellows,  or  those  who  knew  when 
they  had  discharged  their  duty,  and  by  virtue  of  know- 
ing this  fact,  would  not  submit  to  any  kind  of  corporal 
punishment  at  the  hand  of  their  master,  and  especially 
his  overseer. 

Just  as  among  the  whites  in  the  South  there  was 
an  inferior  blooded  class,  so  among  the  slaves  there 
was  an  inferior  blooded  class,  one  whose  members 
were  almost  entirely  devoid  of  all  the  manly  traits  of 
character,  who  were  totally  unreliable  and  were  with- 
out self-respect  enough  to  keep  themselves  clean. 

They  spent  their  lives  much  like  beasts  of  burden. 
They  took  no  interest  in  their  master's  work  or  his 
property,  and  went  no  further  than  forced  by  the  lash, 
and  would  not  go  without  it. 

They  reared  their  children  in  the  same  way  they 
had  come  up,  with  no  perceptible  change  for  the  better. 
They  had  not  the  spirit  nor  the  courage  to  resist  pun- 
ishment, and  bore  it  submissively.  From  that  class,  I 
believe,  springs  the  worthless,  the  shiftless,  the  dishon- 
est and  the  immoral  among  us  to-day,  casting  unmer- 
ited blame  upon  the  honest,  thrifty-  and  intelligent 
colored  people,  who  strive  to  live  right  in  the  sight  of 
God  and  man. 

Another  view  held  by  people  who  have  given  the 
matter  some  thought,  is  this:  there  were  masters  of 
quite  different  temperament  and  disposition.  Some 
had  no  humane  feelings,  and  regarded  their  slaves 
as  brutes,  and  treated  them  as  such,  while   there  were 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  4 1 

Others,  (a  very  large  class)  who  were  good  men,  and  I 
might  say,  religious  men,  and  who  regarded  slavery  as 
wrong  in  principle,  but  as  it  was  handed  down  to  them, 
they  took  it,  believing  that  they,  by  fair  treatment, 
could  improve  the  slave,  morally  a  least,  for  it  was  gen- 
erally believed,  that  if  he  was  freed  and  returned  to 
Africa,  he  would  relapse  into  barbarism.  This  latter 
class  of  slave  owners  treated  their  slaves  better  by  far, 
than  the  other  class,  and  my  belief  and  experience  tend 
to  show  that  they  got  better  service  from  their  slaves, 
and  enjoyed  more  pleasure,  being  almost  entirely  freed 
from  the  disagreeable  duty  of  inflicting  corporal  punish- 
ment. I  have  personal  knowledge  of  cases  where 
young  slaves  had  violated  important  rules,  and  the 
master,  instead  of  punishing  them  himself,  would  go  to 
their  parents,  lay  the  case  before  them,  and  demand 
that  they  take  action. 

In  cases  where  the  master  had  confidence  in  his 
slaves,  and  they  in  turn  had  confidence  in  him,  both  got 
along  agreeably. 

So  that  the  point  I  wish  to  make  is,  that  with  few 
exceptions,  a  good  master  made  good  slaves,  intelli- 
gent, industrious  and  trustworthy,  while  on  the  other 
hand,  a  mean  and  cruel  master  made  shiftless,  careless, 
and  indolent  slaves,  who,  being  used  to  the  lash  as  a 
remedy  for  every  offence,  had  no  fears  of  it,  and  would 
not  go  without  it.  Some  people  assert  that  long-con- 
tinued ill-treatment  had  taken  all  the  spirit  of  manhood 
out  of  this  class  of  slaves,  and  that  it  will  take  genera- 
tions of  schooling  and  contact  with  intelligent  people  to 
instill  into  them  the  spirit  of  manhood,  self-respect,  and 
correct  ideas  of  morality 

Admitting  this  to  be  true,  I  believe   it    is   as    much 


42 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


the  duty  of  the  American  white  people  to  extend  the 
necessary  aid  to  these  unfortunate  people,  as  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  better  class  among  us,  (the  colored  people), 
to  do  this  work  of  uplifting  them. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  43 


CHAPTER  IV. 

I  recently  visited  my  old  home  in  Prince  Edward 
County,  Virginia,  after  an  absence  of  forty-four  years, 
and  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  changes  which  had 
taken  place  during  that  period.  I  had  much  trouble  to 
find  farms  which  I  had  knowledge  of,  because  I  remem- 
bered them  only  by  the  names  they  were  called  by  in 
1849.  The  owners  of  them  had  died  or  moved  away 
and  others  had  acquired  the  lands,  changing  the  names 
of  them,  while  other  farms  had  been  deserted  and 
allowed  to  grow  up  in  forests,  so  that  with  a  few  excep- 
tions the  country  for  miles  in  every  direction  was  an 
unbroken  forest  of  young  trees. 

Among  the  many  notable  changes  which  have 
taken  place  in  this  part  of  the  State  since  1849,  are  tw0 
or  three  to  which  my  attention  was  particularly 
directed.  The  first  is  the  entire  change  in  the  method 
of  travel  and  transportation  of  freight  and  produce 
between  Richmond,  th^  western  portion  of  the  State 
and  the  Southern  States. 

The  entire  absence  of  the  large  number  of  six- 
horse  teams,  in  charge  of  a  colored  driver  and  a  water 
boy,  that  used  to  pass  up  and  down  the  public  road, 
which  ran  in  front  of  our  old  home,  and  which  extended 
from  Richmond  to  the  Blue  Ridge  Mountains,  was 
quite  noticeable,  because  that  was  the  principal  method 
by  which  freight  and  produce  were  carried. 

That  system  of  travel  and  transportation  has  been 
superseded  by  railroads,  and  goods  are  now  delivered 


44  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

by  the  Richmond  &  Danville  inside  of  three  days  after 
purchase,  to  any  place  on  that  railroad  within  two  or 
three  hundred  miles.  This  railroad  now  runs  parallel 
with  the  old  Dublic  road  from  Richmond  to  the  Blue 
Ridge  Mountains  and  the  South,  and  has  entirely 
usurped  the  trade  formerly  monopolized  by  the  old  six- 
horse  team  system. 

Very  vividly  do  I  recall  the  many  six-horse  teams 
which  used  to  pass  daily  up  and  down  that  old  road 
with  their  great  loads  of  corn,  wheat  and  tobacco,  and 
return  loaded  with  drygoods  and  groceries  for  the 
country  merchants.  I  have  seen  as  many  as  twenty  of 
these  teams  pass  our  old  home  in  one  day.  The  team- 
sters, though  slaves,  were  absolutely  reliable  and  there- 
fore, were  intrusted  with  taking  orders  and  produce 
from  country  storekeepers  to  the  wholesale  merchants 
in  Richmond  and  on  their  return  they  would  bring  back 
the  drygoods  and  groceries  that  had  been  ordered  by 
the  country  dealers  living  along  the  road.  Usually 
these  wagoners  went  in  squads  of  four  or  five  and 
camped  at  the  same  camping  grounds.  The  owners  of 
these  teams  would  come  along  about  once  a  month 
paying  and  collecting  bills. 

These  great  wagons,  covered  with  white  canvas  to 
protect  the  freight  they  bore,  sometimes  carrying  from 
seven  to  ten  thousand  pounds  and  each  drawn  by  six 
fine  blooded  horses,  made  to  me  at  least,  a  grand  and 
impressive  picture,  as  the  procession  moved  along  the 
old  road  in  front  of  our  place.  This  picture  was  height- 
ened by  the  picturesqueness  of  the  colored  driver  in 
charge  and  his  peculiar  and  characteristic  dress.  As 
he  rode  along  on  the  sadle  horse  of  the  team  he  seemed 
conscious   of  the    great  responsibility  resting   upon  his 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  45 

shoulders,  and  to  the  simple-minded  colored  people 
along  the  road  he  was  simply  an  uncrowned  king. 
When  the  wagons  stopped  at  the  camping  grounds, 
located  at  regular  intervals  along  the  road,  the  colored 
people  of  the  neighborhood  flocked  around  to  get  a 
glimpse  of  this  great  man. 

Although  the  freight  was  very  valuable  sometimes 
and  often  carried  great  distances,  robbing  or  molesting 
these  trains  was  something  unheard  of.  They  were 
perfectly  secure  while  on  the  move  or  in  camp,  even  in 
the  most  sparsely  settled  districts,  because  there  were 
no  robbers  or  gangs  of  thieves  organized  in  those  days 
to  plunder  passing  teams  It  is  quite  doutful  whether 
the  same  would  be  true  nowadays  if  a  return  to  the  old 
method  of  transportation  was  resorted  to. 

The  country  merchants  in  those  days  were  content- 
ed and  happy,  I  suppose,  to  be  able  to  get  their  orders 
filled  and  goods  delivered  inside  of  from  thirty  to 
ninety  days. 

This  great  public  highway,  which  was  kept  in  such 
splendid  condition  in  1849  and  prior  thereto,  and  which 
had  so  many  beautiful  camping  grounds  where  wood 
and  water  were  convenient  and  not  far  apart,  with  lit- 
tle villages  every  ten  or  fifteen  miles,  where  there  were 
inns  for  travellers  to  rest  and  feed  their  horses  has 
become  a  thing  of  the  past  along  with  that  old 
system  of  travel  and  transportation.  I  have  seen  many 
men,  called  travelers  in  those  days,  pass  over  that  old 
road  going  to,  or  from  the  South  or  West  on  horse- 
back, with  large  saddlebags  strapped  behind  them 
armed  with  a  horse  pistol,  which  was  about  twenty 
inches  long  and  as  large  as  an  old  flint  musket.  Usually 
they  carried   a   pair   of  these   pistols   hanging  down  in 


46  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

front   of  them,  one   on  each   side   of  the   horses   neck. 

That  was  the  usual  way  of  travel  in  those  days 
when  persons  wished  to  go  a  long  distance,  particularly 
to  the  West  or  South.  Signs  of  this  old  road  can  yet 
be  seen  in  places,  but  the  road  has  been  almost 
deserted,  and  has  grown  up  in  forest. 

In  front  of  our  old  place,  and  in  fact  from  Miller's 
Store,  a  little  village  with  a  post-office,  to  Scofields,  a 
similar  place,  a  distance  often  miles,  that  old  road  was 
nearly  on  a  straight  line,  was  broad  and  almost  level, 
and  was  the  pride  of  that  community  ;  but  when  I  saw 
it  in  July,  1893,  and  attempted  with  a  horse  and  buggy 
to  pass  over  it  for  a  distance  of  a  few  miles  I  found  it 
impassable.  From  John  Queensbury's  Public  Inn  and 
Camping  ground  to  our  old  home,  a  distance  of  three 
miles  the  old  road  has  been  entirely  obliterated. 

This  road  was  kept  in  such  a  fine  condition  up  to 
1849  that  many  tobacco  raisers  used  to  put  rollers 
around  one  or  two  hogs  heads  of  tobocco,  weighing 
about  a  thousand  pounds  each,  then  attach  a  pair  of 
shafts  and  with  a  single  horse  draw  them  to  Richmond, 
a  distance  of  sixty  miles. 

I  readily  recall  many  different  kinds  of  travel  and 
trade  which  once  thrived  on  this  public  highway. 
Richmond  at  that  date  being  a  great  pork  market  and 
the  most  convenient  one  for  the  pork  raisers  of  West 
Virginia  and  the  Eastern  portion  of  Kentucky,  and  this 
old  public  highway  being  the  most  direct  route  for 
travel  from  the  West  to  Richmond,  these  hog  raisers, 
in  order  to  reach  a  market  for  their  hogs,  were  com- 
pelled to  drive  them  on  foot  over  the  road  a  distance  of 
over  two  hundred  miles.  I  have  seen  as  many  as  three 
hundred   hogs  in  one  drove  pass  our   old  home  in  one 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  47 

day  going  towards  Richmond.  Usually  these  hog 
drivers  brought  along  several  wagon  loads  of  corn  to 
feed  their  hogs  while  en  route.  They  could  and  did 
travel  from  ten  to  twelve  miles  a  day,  and  from  early 
fall  to  spring  each  year  many  thousand  hogs  were 
driven  into  Richmond  over  this  public  highway. 

Besides  supplying  Richmond  with  pork,  which  in 
turn,  furnished  other  places,  especially  in  the  South, 
these  hog  raisers  sold  hogs  to  planters  on  the  road,  who 
had  failed  to  raise  enough  pork  for  home  consumption. 
Pork  was  the  principal  meat  diet  at  that  time  for  both 
white  and  black,  there  being  few  sheep  or  beef  cattle 
killed  for  table  use,  and  then  always  for  the  table  of  the 
master  classes. 

To  advise  a  farmer  now  living  in  West  Virginia  or 
Eastern  Kentucky,  who  owns  a  hundred  head  of 
marketable  hogs,  to  drive  them  two  hundred  miles  to 
market,  as  his  father  had  done,  would  be  considered  by 
him  very  foolish  advice.  But  such  was  the  only  way 
of  transportation  of  that  kind  of  product  prior  to  the 
year  1849,  °f  wmcn  the  writer  has  personal  recollec- 
tions. 

These  cases  mentioned  show  clearly  what  rail- 
roads have  done,  not  only  for  Virginia,  Kentucky,  and 
Tennessee,  but  the  whole  country  and  especially  the 
Southern  portion  of  it. 

Richmond  was  also  the  principal  slave  market  and 
this  public  highway  the  most  direct  route  to  the  South- 
ern cotton  fields,  especially  those  of  Mississippi,  Ala- 
bama, Louisiana,  Arkansas,  and  Tennessee,  and  Negro 
traders  passed  over  it  many  times  each  year  with 
gangs  of  slaves  bought  at  the  public  auction  block  in 
Richmond.     I  have  seen  many  gangs  of  slaves  driven 


48  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

over  this  old  road.  Usually,  the  slave  men  were  hand- 
cuffed together  with  long  chains  between  them  extend- 
ing the  whole  length  of  the  gang,  which  contained  as 
many  as  forty,  sometimes,  or  twenty  on  each  side  of 
the  chain  marching  in  line.  The  women  and  small 
boys  were  allowed  to  walk  unchained  in  the  line  while 
the  children  and  the  lame  and  those  who  were  sick 
rode  in  wagons.  The  entire  caravan  would  be  under 
the  charge  of  the  owner  and  a  guard  of  four  or  five 
poor  white  men  armed  each  with  a  rawhide  whip,  with 
which  to  urge  the  gang  along  and  to  keep  them  in  line 
or  at  least  in  the  road. 

It  was  not  the  custom,  neither  was  it  to  the  owner's 
interest,  to  treat  these  slaves  brutally,  for,  like  mules 
brought  up  to  be  carried  to  a  better  market,  or  where 
larger  prices  prevailed,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that 
they  should  not  show  any  signs  of  ill-treatment;  and  I 
cannot  recall  ever  having  seen  the  punishment  of  one 
of  them.  Of  course  these  Negro  traders  could  not 
allow  grown  men  to  march  in  line  unchained,  particu- 
larly those  who  did  not  want  to  go,  because  they  might 
become  unmanagable,  run  away,  and  escape  capture, 
thus  causing  the  loss  of  the  price  paid  for  them,  or  at 
least  give  considerable  trouble.  As  a  general  rule, 
many  of  these  slave  men  were  sold  in  the  first  place  on 
account  of  insubordination — had  resisted  their  masters, 
or  had  beaten  their  overseers,  and  such  slaves  were 
considered  by  their  owners  dangerous  fellows  on  the 
farm  with  others,  especially  young  men  who  might 
follow  such  examples.  Then  again  many  slaves  were 
sold  because  they  had  committed  murder  or  some  other 
crime  not  deserving  the  death  penalty,  and  there  were 
no  penitentiaries  for  slaves. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  49 

These  and  many  other  recollections  of  my  early 
life  crowded  upon  me  as  I  looked  upon  the  old  familiar 
scenes.  The  absence  of  familiar  faces  was  no  less 
remarkable  than  the  changes  in  lands  and  improve- 
ments, for  I  found  only  one  man  I  had  seen  before. 
There  were  two  others  whom  I  knew  in  that  vicinity 
and  who  had  never  left  it,  but  I  failed  to  find  them  at 
their  homes.  I  visited  the  home  of  Mrs.  Sarah  Perkin- 
son,  widow  of  Lemuel  Perkinson,  mentioned  in  a  pre- 
vious chapter,  but  did  not  see  her,  as  she  had  left  a  few 
days  prior  on  a  visit  to  relatives  in  North  Carolina.  I 
was  really  sorry  I  did  not  see  her,  for  I  could  have 
obtained  much  valuable  information  from  her,  as  she 
had  remained  in  that  community  ever  since  the  year 
1849,  and  could  have  given  me  an  interesting  history 
of  past  events.  She  still  owns  the  old  Perkinson  farm 
consisting  of  about  two  thousand  acres.  The  old  frame 
mansion  which  was  built  before  1841  was  still  there 
and  in  a  fair  state  of  preservation,  and  without  any 
apparent  change  since  I  last  saw  it  forty-four  years 
ago.  I  found  old  man,  Major  Perkinson,  one  of  Mrs. 
Perkinson's  former  slaves,  occupying  the  Great  House 
and  tilling  the  land.  There  were  about  fifty  acres 
under  cultivation  ;  the  balance  had  grown  wild.  The 
old  Major  who  is  now  ninety  years  of  age  and  quite 
active,  remembered  me  very  well  and  proceeded  to 
treat  me  like  a  southern  gentleman  of  the  old  school 
would  have  done.  I  next  visited  our  old  home  which  was 
one  mile  away.  Here  I  found  the  great  house,  also  a 
frame  building,  built  in  the  summer  of  1842,  in  a  good 
state  of  preservation,  and  as  I  went  through  every 
room  I  am  sure  that  there  had  been  but  little  change 
in    its  structure.     I   also    visited    the   spot   where    my 


/ 


50  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

mother's  cabin  stood,  and  then  how  forcibly  those  lines 
of  the  poet  touched  my  mind,  "  Childhood  days  now 
pass  before  me,  forms  and  scenes  of  long  ago,"  etc. 
The  quarters  for  the  colored  people  had  disappeared 
here  as  well  as  those  at  Mrs.  Perkinson's  place.  This 
place  is  now  owned  by  a  Yankee  lady  in  New  York, 
and  of  the  six  hundred  acres  under  fence  when  we  left 
it  in  1849,  only  f°ur  acres  are  now  in  use,  the  balance 
having  grown  up  in  forest. 

I  visited  several  places  of  interest,  and  among 
them  was  Green  Bay,  about  two  miles  north  of  our  old 
home.  Here  I  met  Mr.  Thomas  Rowlett,  the  station 
agent,  and  one,  Mr.  Scott,  and  a  merchant  named 
Richardson,  whose  father  I  remembered.  All  three  of 
these  men  are  direct  descendants  of  the  "  Blue  Bloods," 
and  I  found  them  still  defending  the  right.  I  was 
greatly  impressed  by  a  remark  made  by  Mr  Richard- 
son; he  said,  "  We  are  now,  and  will  be  for  the  next 
twenty  years,  suffering  from  the  curse  of  slavery;  it 
cursed  the  slave,  it  cursed  his  master,  it  cursed  the 
land."  He  then  called  attention  to  the  thousands  of 
acres  gone  wild,  too  poor  to  produce  anything,  and  the 
owners  were  unable  to  bring  them  to  a  rentable  condi- 
tion, and  the  colored  people  could  not  make  a  living  on 
them  and  of  course,  left  the  country  in  search  of  work. 
He  said  one  could  buy  land  anywhere-  in  that  commun- 
ity for  three  dollars  per  acre.  Of  course  it  will  cost  at 
least  ten  dollars  more  to  bring  it  up  to  a  fair  state  of 
cultivation.  When  I  saw  these  fine  lands  in  1849, 
tilled  by  slave  labor,  and  kept  in  the  very  highest  state 
of  cultivation,  and  on  which  splendid  crops  of  tobacco, 
corn  and  wheat  were  raised,  I  could  not  have  realized 
that  in  the  space  of  forty-four  years  these  same  lands 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  $1 

would  be  a  wilderness,  the  owners  scattered,  and  even 
the  former  slaves  gone.  But  so  it  is,  and  the  names  of 
the  people  who  owned  them  forgotten.  The  only  men 
I  found  who  had  remained  and  retained  not  only  the  old 
master's  name,  but  the  farm  as  well,  were  the  Scotts, 
consisting  of  the  father,  two  sons,  Charles  and  Thomas, 
and  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Lefere.  They  had  acquired  the 
old  homesteads  of  their  old  masters  in  each  case  and 
occupied  the  great  house  built  of  brick  over  sixty  years 
ago,  and  still  in  good  condition.  These  farms  were 
adjoining  each  other  and  located  on  the  Pike  Road 
leading  to  Farmville,  and  near  Sandy  River  Church.  I 
remembered  these  farms  and  the  Scotts  very  well,  and 
also  the  church  where  my  master  used  to  go  to  wor- 
ship quite  often,  and  allowed  his  slaves  to  go  occasion- 
ally on  Saturday  afternoon.  Why  I  recall  this  so 
vividly  is,  because  Sandy  River  was  a  clear  deep  stream 
with  an  abundance  of  fish,  and  while  the  older  ones 
attended  divine  service  I  went  fishing. 

The    Scotts,  Col.  Scott,  Charles    and    Thomas    A. 

Scott,  brothers,  were  considered  the  most  aristocratic 
people  in  that  community,  and  owned  quite  a  large 
number  of  slaves  and  treated  them  humanely,  a  fact 
which  the  father  of  the  Scotts  now  owning  the  lands 
will  testify  to.  Old  masters  are  dead,  and  their  chil- 
dren, having  sold  the  old  farms  and  scattered,  their 
former  slaves  now  own  these  estates  and  are  industri- 
ous and  thrifty  farmers.  They  had  the  best  crops  I 
saw  in  that  country,  with  good  stock  in  splendid  condi- 
tion I  found  the  wife  of  Thomas  Scott  and  Mrs. 
Lefere  splendid  houskeepers  and  entertained  as  none 
but  Virginia  ladies  can.  Each  had  one  or  more  grown 
daughters,  well  educated,  refined,  and  very  pretty  girls. 
I  confess  my  surprise  at  finding  such  intelligent  and 
fashionably  dressed  girls  in  that  community. 


52  SLAVERY   AS    I   SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  V. 

It  is  encouraging  to  note  the  advancement  made 
upon  the  stronghold  of  ignorance,  superstition  and  voo- 
dooism  by  the  Colored  people,  since  their  emancipation 
from  the  bonds  of  slavery,  and  especially  is  this  so  to 
those  who  remember  the  time  when  a  large  majority 
of  them  believed  strongly  in  all  kinds  of  superstition, 
voodooism,  gophering,  tricking  and  conjuring. 

I  readily  recall  many  instances  wherein  they  were 
fleeced  out  of  their  little  valuables  or  money  b}  profes- 
sional humbugs,  known  as  conjurors,  who  succeeded  in 
duping  their  fellow-slaves  so  successfully,  and  to  such 
an  extent,  that  they  believed  and  feared  them  almost 
beyond  their  masters.  I  have  known  of  cases  where 
these  conjurors  held  whole  neighborhoods,  as  it  were, 
in  such  mortal  fear,  that  they  could  do  unto  the  Colored 
people  anything  they  desired,  without  the  least  fear  of 
them  telling  their  masters.  These  conjurors  made  all 
kinds  of  boasts  and  threats,  as  to  what  they  could  and 
would  do  to  anyone  who  dared  to  interfere  with  them, 
or  even  dispute  their  word,  or  question  their  ability  to 
carry  out  what  they  claimed  to  be  able -to  do. 

These  conjurors  claimed  to  be  able  to  do  almost 
anything  in  the  line  of  impossibilities,  even  to  taking  life 
by  the  winking  of  their  eye,  to  make  a  master  be  kind 
to  a  slave,  to  prevent  him  from  selling  one,  even  if  he 
desired  to  do  so,  to  make  a  girl  love  a  man,  whether 
she  desired  him  or  not,  to  make  a  man  love  and  even 
marry  a  woman  if  she  desired  him. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  53 

For  a  stipulated  sum  paid  them,  they  would  give 
what  was  called  "  a  hand  or  a  jack,"  which  they 
claimed  would  enable  the  holder  to  accomplish  what  he 
desired,  and  at  the  same  time  protect  him  from  all 
harm,  provided  always,  that  the  holder  had  faith  and  fol- 
lowed instructions. 

These  conjurors  claimed  to  be  able  to  bury  a  hand 
or  a  jack  under  the  master's  door  step,  which  would 
prevent  him  from  whipping  a  particular  slave  while  it 
was  there.  Of  course,  if  that  particular  slave  got 
whipped,  and  so  reported  to  the  old  conjuror,  he  would 
promptly  claim  one  of  three  things,  either  that  some- 
one had  removed  the  jack,  or  that  the  fellow  had  failed 
to  carry  out  instructions,  or  had  no  faith  in  the  jack, 
and  therefore  was  deserving  ot  punishment. 

These  conjurors  claimed  to  be  able  to  put  pain,  or 
even  permanent  disability  upon  any  one  they  desired, 
and  could  remove  the  trick  put  on  by  another  conjuror, 
could  cause  live  scorpions  to  appear  under  the  skin  of 
persons,  and  could  take  out  those  put  there  by  other 
conjurors.  They  claimed  that  nearly  every  pain  or 
ache  was  the  result  of  conjuration,  and  the  one  sent  for 
could  take  it  off  To  show  to  what  extent  these  peo- 
ple believed  in  voodooism,  and  could  be  fleeced,  I  will 
relate  a  story  told  me  by  Ike  Cabel,  oi  Brunswick,  Mo. 
He  said  he  was  out  with  a  surveying  party  about 
the  year  1852,  and  camped  near  a  large  plantation  in 
Louisiana.  He  gave  it  out  among  the  slaves  that  he 
was  a  conjuror,  and  soon  thereafter  his  camp  was  be- 
sieged every  night  by  slaves  with  all  kinds  of  aches  and 
pains,  which  he  cured  with  red  clay,  oak  leaves  and 
salt  boiled,  and  collected  fifty  cents  from  each.  A  man 
came  one  night  claiming  that  he  had   a  scorpion   in  his 


54  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

leg,  and  that  he  felt  it  running  up  and  down  the  leg. 
He  told  the  man  to  come  the  next  night,  which  he  did. 
The  next  day  he  wanted  a  live  scorpion,  and  being 
afraid  of  it  himself,  he  got  two  young  white  men  of  the 
party  to  catch  one  for  him,  promising  them  one-half  he 
was  to  receive  for  the  job,  and  of  course,  let  them  into 
the  secret.  They  captured  a  scorpion,  wrapped  it  up 
carefully  in  brown  paper,  so  that  it  could  not  escape  or 
bite,  and  delivered  it  to  Ike. 

After  rubbing  the  man's  leg  for  a  while  with  his 
other  trick  medicine  with  one  hand,  carefully  holding 
his  little  animal  in  the  other,  and  when  ready  for  the 
final  act,  he  looked  heavenward,  and  in  a  loud  voice 
commanded  the  scorpion  to  come  out  of  the  man's  leg. 
Then  in  a  few  seconds  he  informed  his  dupe  that  the 
animal  had  come,  and  at  the  same  time,  and  by  a 
quick  motion,  freed  the  scorpion  and  brushed  it  from 
the  leg  to  the  floor,  when  the  freed  scorpion  attempted 
to  escape,  and  was  killed  and  carried  away  by  the  pa- 
tient after  paying  the  three  dollars 

Now  it  would  have  been  a  hard  job  to  convince 
that  poor,  innocent,  unsuspecting  man,  that  he  did  not 
have  a  live  scorpion  taken  from  his  leg.  His  imagina- 
tion was  cured,  and  he  was  satisfied,  and  spread  the 
news  far  and  wide  of  his  wonderful  cure. 

It  is  claimed  that  the  way  scorpions  and  other 
little  poisonous  animals  or  insects  are  gotten  into  the 
body  is  through  whiskey.  That  the  little  scorpion  is 
killed  and  laid  out  to  dry,  and  when  thoroughly  dried 
is  beaten  into  dust,  and  the  dust  put  into  a  bottle  of 
whiskey,  and  in  a  short  time  after  being  drank  will 
reproduce  itself,  whatever  it  is,  under  the  skin  of  the 
drinker.     At  any  rate,  I  remember  that  conjurors  were 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  55 

never  asked  for  a  drink  of  whiskey,  and  people  were 
always  afraid  to  take  a  drink  from  some  men's  bottle 
until  the  owner  had  drank  first,  "  to  take  the  poison 
off." 

These  conjurors  practiced  with  different  kinds  of 
roots,  seeds,  barks,  insects,  and  other  strange  ingre- 
dients, but  polk  root  and  green  planten  were  among 
their  principal  remedies  to  take  off  a  trick  or  a  pain. 
Of  course  they  had  some  queer  ways  of  mixing  things 
to  make  it  appear  mysterious  A  poultice  made  of  polk 
root  is  said  to  be  a  good  remedy  for  rheumatism,  and 
these  conjurors  probably  knew  that,  and  put  in  the 
poultice  a  few  harmless  things  to  make  it  appear 
strange,  and  if  the  rheumatic  pain  was  removed,  they 
would  claim  that  they  had  taken  off  a  trick  put  there 
by  some  conjuror.  Of  course  different  conjurors  have 
different  jacks  and  different  "  hands,"  but  the  two  I  saw 
were  composed  of  hog-bristles,  old  horse  shoe  nails,  a 
little  red  clay,  salt,  red  pepper,  red  oak  leaves,  soaked  in 
vinegar,  then  wrapped  in  a  roll  about  three  inches 
long  and  one  inch  thick,  and  tied  with  a  yarn  string 
very  tight. y.  There  is  a  peculiar  lingo  to  accompany 
the  "jack,"  and  it  varies  according  to  requirements. 

To  show  how  thoroughly  these  people  believed  in 
conjurors,  and  to  what  extent  they  could  be  imposed 
upon  by  them,  I  will  relate  one  more  instmce,  which 
was  told  me  by  an  old  lady  whose  word  I  cannot  doubt, 
and  whom  I  have  known  for  these  many  years,  but 
to  honor  and  cheer.  She  said  that  she  belonged  to  one 
of  two  brothers  living  on  adjoining  farms  in  Amelia 
Count}7,  Va  ,  prior  to  the  year  1830,  and  that  one  of 
them  was  a  bachelor  and  the  other  a  widower,  an  J  that 
they  loved  each  other  dearly.     That  they  owned  about 


$6  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

thirty  slaves  each,  and  that  one  of  them  decided  to 
break  up  and  take  his  slaves  to  Alabama,  and  made  all 
arrangements  to  do  so.  When  the  day  came  to  start, 
he  gave  the  order  to  load  the  wagons  and  hitch  up  the 
horses,  which  was  done,  and  that  they  remained  stand- 
ing, as  did  the  slaves,  until  late  in  the  afternoon,  when 
the  master  came  to  the  front  door  and  gave  orders  to 
unload  and  unhitch  the  teams,  and  for  the  slaves  to  go 
to  his  brother's  field  to  work.  On  the  next  day  he  left 
on  horseback  in  company  with  another  man  bound  for 
Alabama. 

She  said  that  many  of  his  slaves  did  not  want  to 
go,  and  hearing  of  a  great  conjuror  living  ten  miles 
away,  made  up  a  purse  and  sent  for  him.  He  came 
the  night  previous  to  the  time  set  for  starting  to  Ala- 
bama. My  informant  says,  that  he  told  them  upon  his 
arrival,  that  they  h  id  waited  too  long  in  sending  for 
him,  that  if  th  y  had  sent  for  him  earlier  he  could  have 
stopped  all,  but  now  he  could  only  stop  the  slaves  from 
going,  and  even  that  would  depend  on  whether  the 
master  walked  over  a  "  hand,"  which  he  was  going  to 
put  under  the  front  door  steps.  She  says  the  old  con- 
juror went  to  the  front  door  steps  of  the  great  house 
about  twelve  o'clock  that  night,  dug  a  small  hole  under 
the  ground  step,  took  from  his  pocket  a  little  ball, 
talked  to  it  a  while  in  a  whisper,  then  kissed  it  and  put 
it  in  the  hole,  and  covered  it  carefully  and  came  away. 
That  the  slaves,  she  among  them,  watched  the  old 
master  next  morning,  until  they  saw  him  come  down 
the  steps  and  walk  around  a  while,  then  go  back  over 
this  particular  step.  That  they  were  then  satisfied  that 
the  old  master  could  not  take  them  anywhere,  and  he 
did  not. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  57 

I  was  never  able  to  convince  my  dear  old  lady 
friend  that  all  conjurors  were  humbugs,  and  this  one 
was  among  them,  and  that  it  was  purely  a  matter  of 
chance  so  far  as  he  was  concerned.  I  do  not  want  it 
understood  that  these  conjurors  were  believed  in  by  all 
Colored  people,  for  there  were  a  large  number  of  intel- 
ligent ones,  who  paid  no  attention  to  conjurors,  even 
defied  them,  told  them  that  they  were  humbugs  and 
liars  These  conjurors  were  a  shrewd  set  of  fellows, 
and  on  that  account  alone  were  enabled  to  fool  the  less 
informed.  They  were  industrious,  and  hard  working, 
and  faithful  servants,  and  of  course  received  no  punish- 
ment, and  were  keen  enough  to  point  to  this  fact  as 
evidence  of  the  power  of  their  jack  in  keeping  their 
master  under  control,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  was 
their  faithful  service  alone  that  protected  them  from  the 
lash. 

There  have  been  cases  where  Colored  people  took 
sick  from  some  cause,  and  imagined  themselves  tricked 
or  poisoned  by  some  one,  and  the  white  doctor,  unable 
to  do  them  any  good,  gave  up  the  case,  and  the  patients, 
believing  themselves  poisoned  and  therefore  incurable, 
have  died,  when  they  might  have  been  saved,  if  the 
white  doctor  had  only  thought  for  a  moment,  and 
instead  of  giving  up  the  case,  announced  himself  a  con- 
juror, and  proceeded  to  doctor  his  patient's  mind. 

Superstition  in  some  form  has  always  existed, 
especially  among  illiterate  people,  regardless  of  color, 
and  the  more  illiterate  the  greater  the  amount  of  super- 
stition, and  as  a  case  of  strong  evidence  of  this,  I  point 
to  the  "  spirit  dance  "  by  the  Indians  of  the  far  West, 
where  the  excitement  created  by  it  has  been  so  great, 
that  an  uprising  was  only  kept  down    by  the   vigilance 


58  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

of  the  regular  army.  While  conjuring,  tricking  and 
gophering,  and  the  like,  were  believed  in  by  the  slaves, 
and  spirit  dances  and  other  forms  of  superstition  were 
practiced  by  the  Indians,  the  American  white  people 
believed  as  strongly  in  another  form  of  superstition 
called  "  witch  craft,"  that  thev  burnt  innocent  men  and 
women  at  the  stake 

In  order  to  show  that  education  and  intelligence 
are  the  great  powers  which  have  been  the  means  of 
dispelling  the  gloom  of  superstition  and  voodooism 
among  the  Colored  people  especially,  I  will  state  that 
the  Colored  people  of  Missouri,  particularly  those  of 
Chariton,  Howard,  Carroll  and  Randolph  counties, 
were  above  the  ordinary  slaves  in  the  more  extreme 
Southern  states  in  intelligence  and  education,  and  did 
not  believe  in  voodooism  or  conjuration  nearly  as  much 
as  those  in  old  Virginia,  and  when  one  was  brought  to 
Missouri  who  claimed  to  be  able  to  exercise  those  mir- 
aculous powers,  he  was  immediately  laughed  at  and 
openly  defied  by  all  excepting  a  few  of  the  more  illiter- 
ate. I  recall  one  instance  where  a  man  named 
Magruder,  who  owned  about  forty  slaves,  which  he 
brought  to  Brunswick,  Missouri,  from  Virginia,  and 
bought  land  near  the  town  and  settled  thereon.  Among 
his  slaves  was  an  old,  whiteheaded,  crippled  man, 
known  as  a  conjuror.  He  claimed  to  be  able  to  do 
many  mysterious  and  impossible  things,  and  among 
those  who  belonged  to  his  master  he  was  believed  and 
feared,  but  the  Colored  people  in  that  vicinity  laughed 
at  him,  defied  his  threats,  and  denounced  him  as  an 
old  humbug,  for  in  truth  such  he  was,  and  when  those 
who  believed  in  him  saw  him  defied  and  denounced, 
and    his    inability  to    carry  out    his    threats,  they  took 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


59 


courage  and  denounced  him  too.  When  he  saw  his 
business  assailed  and  himself  defied,  with  no  more  op- 
portunity to  gull  the  people,  he  gave  it  out  that  his 
favorite  plants  and  roots  did  not  grow  or  could  not  be 
found  in  that  country,  and  that  alone  was  the  reason 
why  he  could  not  practice  his  profession.  The  truth  of 
the  matter  was,  that  the  Colored  people  in  that  state 
were  more  intelligent  than  those  from  whence  he 
came,  and  therefore  could  not  be  easily  humbugged. 


6o  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

After  having  traveled  over  the  rich  lands  of  the 
Western  Country,  where  fine  crops  were  raised  without 
much  effort,  and  especially  without  any  fertilizer,  our 
master  could  not  be  content  to  remain  in  the  poor, 
hilly,  rocky  state  of  Virginia,  and  determined  to  go  to 
Mississippi,  where  his  sister,  Mrs.  Susan  Green  then 
lived  So,  about  October,  1849,  having  sold  the  old 
farm  he  started  with  his  slaves. 

On  this  occasion  there  was  a  separation  of  man 
and  wife.  Eight  or  ten  months  previously,  my  sister 
Eliza  had  been  married  to  a  man  named  Tom,  belong- 
ing to  Nathan  Fulks,  who  claimed  inability  to  buy  my 
sister,  and  her  owner  said  he  did  not  have  the  cash  to 
spare  to  buy  Tom,  but  offered  to  take  him  along  and 
pay  hire  for  him,  which  his  master  refused,  and  thus 
they  were  separated  forever.  She  married  again  after 
six  or  seven  years,  but  I  never  heard  of  Tom  after- 
ward. 

While  en  route  to  Mississippi,  Uncle  Walt,  before 
mentioned,  was  taken  sick  with  some  kind  of  a  fever 
and  had  to  be  left  for  better  care  and  treatment  near 
*  the  line  of  Virginia  and  Tennessee.  His  wife,  Aunt 
Martha,  did  not  want  to  be  separated  from  him  and  was 
left,  too  I  have  been  informed  recently  that  they  were 
sold  to  the  man  with  whom  they  were  left.  I  remem- 
ber when  we  lived  in  adjoining  cabins  that  they  were 
very  quarrel- ome  people,  and  did  not  want  their  son 
Isaac    to    play  with    me,  because,  they  said,  I    was   a 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  6 1 

"  yarler  nigger."  I  may  have  been  a  bad  boy  at  that 
time  and  am  not  now  prepared  to  say  that  I  was  not, 
but  they  used  to  treat  me  meanly  in  every  possible  way, 
and  I  often  sauced  them  and  ran  when  they  got  after 
me.  I  remember  that  I  was  wicked  enough  to  be  glad 
when  they  were  left  or  sold,  because  they,  particularly 
Aunt  Martha,  were  always  trying  to  raise  trouble  about 
something. 

With  one  exception  our  master  then  owned  only 
my  mother  and  her  children.  By  the  first  of  December, 
i849,we  had  reached  the  Greene  plantation,located  about 
fifteen  miles  from  Holly  Springs,  Mississippi,  which  was 
a  very  large  one  and  tilled  by  about  three  hundred 
slaves  in  charge  of  a  very  mean  overseer. 

The  day  after  our  arrival  at  this  place,  those  old 
enough  to  pick  cotton  were  sent  to  the  field,  and  this 
was  my  first  experience  in  cotton-picking  We  were 
called  up  by  the  overseer  by  means  of  a  horn,  ate 
breakfast  and  were  in  the  field  by  daylight,  sometimes, 
before  it  was  light  enough  to  see  the  cotton  balls,  and 
kept  steadily  at  work  till  noon,  when  dinner  was 
brought  to  us  on  large  trays  and  the  order  given  by  the 
overseer  to  eat.  'We  sat  down  right  there,  and  as  soon 
as  the  last  mouthful  was  swallowed  the  order  was  given 
to  go  to  work.  We  were  given  good,  wholesome  food 
and  plenty  of  it,  only  the  time  was  so  short  in  which  to 
eat  it.  From  noon  until  dark  we  were  driven  by  the 
overseer   who  carried  a  long  whip  called  a  blacksnake. 

At  dark,  the  females  were  allowed  to  go  to  their 
quarters,  but  the  men  and  boys  were  divided  into 
squads  of  five;  each  had  a  bale  of  cotton  to  turn  out. 
Gins  run  by  mules  had  been  going  all  day,  making  lint 
cotton  which  had  to  be  put  in  bales,  and  each  bale  had 


62  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

to  stand  under  the  press  about  twenty  minutes,  so  that 
the  last  squad  seldom  got  through  earlier  than  nine 
o'clock;  and  this  went  on  each  day  except  Sunday. 

Mr.  Greene  ran  a  large  cooking  establishment,  so 
that  when  the  work  of  the  day  was  over  supper  was 
ready  for  all,  and  the  horn  was  blown  for  breakfast  an 
hour  before  daylight. 

We  remained  here  until  January  i,  1850,  when  we 
were  hired  to  Thomas  Greene,  a  son  of  Mr.  Greene, 
living  about  eight  miles  away.  We  got  along  without 
any  punishment,  while  at  old  man  Greene's  plantation, 
but  I  saw  others  whipped.  It  has  occurred  to  me  since 
that  our  owner  had  something  to  do  with  this,  for  he 
was  opposed  to  brutal  treatment  generally.  He  had 
hired  us  out  for  a  year,  but  in  March  of  that  year  he 
had  become  so  dissatisfied  with  that  country  that  he 
determined  to  leave  it  and  go  back  to  Missouri. 

Slave  owners,  even  Mississippians,  were  not  all 
brutal.  This  was  especially  true  of  young  Thomas 
Greene  and  his  wife  who  were  very  good  people. 
There  was  also  a  man  named  Cox,  near  by,  who  owned 
about  four  hundred  slaves  whom  he  treated  very  well. 
He  gave  them  good  quarters  and  built  a  church  on  his 
place  and  hired  a  white  preacher  to  preach  the  gospel 
to  them  every  Sunday,  and  compelled  each  slave  to 
attend.  He  gave  each  man  the  use  q(  an  acre  of  land, 
and  every  Saturday  afternoon  to  cultivate  it.  One  acre, 
well  cultivated,  would  yield  a  bale  of  cotton  which  Mr. 
Cox  would  sell  for  them  and  buy  whatever  little  things 
they  might  want,  especially  such  as  were  not  furnished 
by  him.  Usually  this  would  be  nice  Sunday  clothes, 
shoes,  hats  and  Sunday  wear  for  the  women.  I  wish 
to  state  that  Mr.  Cox  gave  a  half  day  every  Saturday  to 


/ 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  63 

all  of  his  slaves,  and  I  state  this  from  personal  knowl- 
edge, having  visited  the  Cox  plantation  many  times  and 
played  with  the  boys  and  girls  thereon 

There  was  also  a  large  plantation  south  of  the 
Greene  place,  but  the  owner's  name  I  cannot  recall. 
He  ovv  ned  a  large  number  of  slaves  and  I  was  told  was 
kind  to  them,  but  I  remember  that  he  allowed  no  vis- 
itors on  his  place,  neither  did  he  allow  any  of  his  slaves 
to  get  outside  of  his  fence  at  any  time.  lie  had  some 
very  pretty  girls  about  my  age,  and  we  met  and  talked 
with  the  fence  between  us,  on  Sunday  afternoon. 

A  near  neighbor's  cattle  used  to  break  into  the 
field  and  destroy  corn  and  other  grain  on  Green's  plan- 
tation and  I  had  to  drive  them  out,  and  in  doing  so 
threw  a  brick  which  broke  the  leg  of  one  of  them.  The 
owner  of  it  came  over  very  soon  and  wanted  to  whip 
me  for  doing  it,  and  I  supposed  would  have  done  so,  as 
he  was  a  very  large  man,  but  Mr.  Greene  came  to  my 
rescue,  ordered  him  off  the  place  and  told  him,  "  If  you 
whip  the  boy,  I  will  whip  you."  He  left,  thieateningto 
whip  me  the  first  time  he  caught  me  off  Mr.  Greene's 
land.     I  never  went  on  this  neighbor's  land  after  that. 

Having  hired  us  out  for  a  year,  our  master  could 
not  rightfully  claim  us  until  the  end  of  the  time  speci- 
fied in  the  contract,  unless  he  .would  give  the  time  we 
had  served  from  January  to  March  free,  which  he 
agreed  to  do,  and  once  more  we  were  in  his  possession. 
I  am  unable  to  express  the  joy  we  felt  when  he 
informed  us  of  his  intention  to  take  us  back  to  Mis 
souri.  That  was  a  great  blessing  to  us,  and  the  older 
ones  thanked  the  Lord  for  this  deliverance.  He  came 
to  our  quarters  one  Sunday  afternoon  and  gave  us  this 
very  welcome   news,  and  I  remember  that  we  were  so 


64  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

overjoyed  that  we  could  not  sleep  that  night.  He  got 
started  about  April  1,  1850.  Having  sold  his  teams 
when  we  reached  Mississippi,  our  owner  had  to  hire 
Mr.  Greene's  team  to  haul  us  to  Memphis,  Tennessee, 
where  we  took  steamer  bound  for  St.  Louis,  and  thence 
to  Brunswick,  Missouri.  The  trip  was  a  pleasant  one 
and  made  in  less  than  ten  days. 

There  was  much  rejoicing  when  we  were  landed 
at  Brunswick,  and  were  met  at  the  levee  by  W.  B. 
Bruce,  with  a  conveyance  to  take  us  out  to  his  planta- 
tion, were  we  met  old  acquaintances,  including  my 
brother  and  sister,  who  also  belonged  to  him.  We 
were  once  more  in  the  state  we  loved  and  intent  on 
remaining  whether  oicr  master  liked  it  or  not,  for  he 
had  brought  us  where  it  was  not  so  easy  to  take  slaves 
about  without  their  consent,  and  besides  some  had 
become  men. 

I  recall  that  one  Sunday,  about  two  years  after- 
wards, our  master  sent  for  the  four  men  ot  us  to  meet 
him  at  the  home  of  W.  B  Bruce  We  did  so  and  he 
informed  us  that  he  had  about  made  up  his  mind  to 
take  us  all  to  Texas.  My  older  brothers,  James  and 
Calvin,  told  him  they  would  not  go  and  I  joined  in.  He 
got  angry  and  ordered  us  to  "  shut  up,"  which  we  did. 
He  then  told  us  to  come  back  next  Sunday,  when  he 
would  tell  us  what  to  depend  on,  which  was  done  and 
then,  after  seeing  how  bitterly  his  plans  were  opposed 
by  us  he  informed  us  that  he  would  buy  land  and  set- 
tle in  that  country,  which  he  did  within  two  years. 

After  resting  a  few  days  upon  our  arrival  at  Mr. 
Bruce's  from  Mississippi,  we  were  all  hired  to  one  J.  B. 
Barrett,  a  tobacconist.  My  sisters  were  hired  out  as 
house    girls  and    mother    as  cook  to  a    man    named 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  65 

Treadway,  a  school  teacher,  who  was  a  mean  man,  not 
only  to  her,  but  to  his  wife  as  well.  I  don't  think  he 
ever  struck  my  mother,  but  he  abused  her  in  every 
other  wa  >  possible  His  wife  was  a  good  woman  and 
treated  mother  humanely,  but  old  Treadway  was  so 
mean  ihat  he  would  not  allow  any  of  mother's  children 
to  come  to  his  kitchen  to  see  her  at  any  time,  and  in 
order  to  see  her  we  used  to  wait  until  he  was  in  bed, 
and  then  st.al  in.  I  don't  think  mother  stayed  .here 
longer  than  that  year. 

The  next  two  years  she  was  hired  to  J.  B.  Barrett, 
who  allowed  his  wife  to  manage  the  household  affairs 
to  suit  herself,  and  as  she  was  a  very  good  woman 
and  mother  a  good  cook  they  got  along  splendidly,  and 
Mrs.  Barrett  was  well  pleased  with  mother's  style  of 
cooking. 

J.  B.  Barrett  hired   six   t  f  us  for   three  years,  and 
although  he   was   a    noisy  kind   of  man,  cursed  a  good 

« 

deal  and  threatened  to  whip  or  have  it  done  by  his 
overseer,  one  Jesse  Hare,  he  seldom  punished  anyone, 
especially  those  who  were  grown.  I  worked  for  him 
from  June  ,850,  to  January  1,  1S54,  and  was  whipped 
only  once  and  that  for  fighting  another  fellow  who  had 
struck  my  younger  brother,  B.  K.  Bruce.  This  man, 
Charles  Sanders,  was  a  grown  man  at  that  time  and  I 
was  an  eighteen  year  old  boy,  yet  I  beat  him  so  badly 
that  he  was  disabled  lor  work,  at  least  two  months 
thereafter.  Knowing  so  well  what  would  follow  after 
this  fight,  I  ran  to  the  woods  and  made  my  way  to  my 
owner,  about  four  miles  distant  But  that  did  not  save 
me  for  the  overseer  came  after  me,  and  after  I  had 
made  my  statement  my  owner's  answer  was,  "  You 
knew  better  than  to  fight  and  you  will  be  whipped,  and 


66  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

I  will  do  nothing  to  prevent  it."  I  wanted  him  to  pay 
my  fine  and  save  me.  He  came  to  town  with  me,  and 
in  the  presence  of  J.  B.  Barrett  and  himself  I  was 
whipped  by  old  Jesse  Hare,  who  did  not  like  me  and 
took  this  opportunity  to  lay  the  lash  on  very  hard,  but 
was  promptly  stopped  by  }.  B  Barrett  and  severely 
reprimanded  for  his  brutality. 

This  man  Hare  disliked  me  any  way,  because  of 
an  old  score,  for  previous  to  that  he  had  attempted  to 
flog  me  and  I  resisted,  and  threatened  to  go  to  my 
master.  But  I  doubt  very  much,  even  now,  whether 
he  would  have  protected  me  in  such  a  case,  for  he  was 
so  bitterly  opposed  to  a  slave's  resisting  or  being  saucy 
to  a  white  man. 

After  the  factor}?  closed  in  the  fall  of  1853,  I  was 
hired  out  by  J.  B  Barrett  to  a  poor  white  man,  named 
David  Hampton,  and  had  not  been  with  him  more  than 
a  month  when  one  of  his  boys  sauced  me  and  I  slap- 
ped him.  He  ran  to  his  father  who  called  me  to  him, 
ordered  me  to  take  off  my  shirt,  a  thing  neither  my 
master  nor  any  other  man  had  ordered  me  to  do.  Of 
course  I  refused  to  obey  and  told  him  so  in  language 
which  he  understood.  He  then  threw  a  stick  of  cord- 
wood  at  me  which  missed  its  mark,  and  I  picked  it  up 
and  was  about  to  throw  it  back,  when  he  ran  into  the 
house.  This  ended  our  fight.  I  would  be  ashamed  of 
myself,  even  now,  had  I  allowed  that  poor  white  man 
to  whip  me.  But  the  fun  came  later.  When  supper 
was  called,  the  old  man  and  his  wife  had  eaten  and  left 
the  table,  and  the  children,  two  girls  and  three  small 
boys  and  I  ate  together.  Just  as  I  finished  and  was 
about  to  leave  the  table,  the  old  lady  came  in  behind 
me  with  a  hickory  switch  in  hand.     I  could  not  afford 


SLAVERY    AS    1    SAW    IT.  67 

to  resist  her,  neither  could  I  get  out  until  she  had  given 
me  several  severe  blows.  She  left  her  marks  on  me, 
which  I  carried  for  several  days,  and  I  suppose  she  was 
satisfied;   I  know  1  was. 

But  after  all,  the  Hamptons  were  very  reasonable 
people  and  I  was  well  pleased  with  them,  and  often 
visited  them  afterward.  While  they  were  poor  people 
they  were  not  the  typical  poor  whites.  Many  of  the 
parties  mentioned  are  living  and  can  take  me  to  task  if 
I  misrepresent  facts;  but  I  have  stated  the  truth  in 
every  particular,  as  I  saw  and  experienced  it. 

There  was  a  trait  of  character  running  through 
my  mother's  family,  a  desire  to  learn,  and  every  mem- 
ber could  read  very  well  when  the  war  broke  out,  and 
some  could  write.  The  older  ones  would  teach  the 
younger,  and  while  mother  had  no  education  at  all,  she 
used  to  make  the  younger  study  the  lessons  given  by 
the  older  sister  or  brother,  and  in  that  way  they  all 
learned  to  read.  Another  advantage  we  enjoyed  was 
this:  we  were  all  hired  to  the  same  man  and  we 
worked  and  slept  together  in  the  same  factory  where, 
by  hard  work,  we  usually  made  some  little  money 
every  week,  which  we  could  spend  for  whatever  suited 
our  fancy. 

The  men  who  hired  slaves,  and  owners  as  well, 
had  to  feed  and  clothe  them,  and  the  slaves  had  no  care 
as  to  those  necessaries.  Slavery  in  some  portions  of 
Missouri  was  not  whit  it  was  in  Virginia,  or  in  the 
extreme  South,  because  we  could  buy  any  book  wanted 
if  we  had  the  money  to  pay  for  it,  and  masters  seemed 
not  to  care  about  it,  especially  ours,  but  of  course  there 
were  exceptions  to  the  rule 

But,  returning  to  my  life  in  the  tobacco  factory,  I 


68  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

must  state  that  when  we  were  hired  out  our  owner 
notified  the  hirer  that  he  did  not  whip  any  of  his  grown 
slaves,  and  would  not  allow  it  to  be  done  by  anyone 
else,  and  when  the  man  who  hired  them  found  that  he 
could  not  get  along  without  punishing  he  should  return 
them  to  him.  That  was  the  saving  clause  for  us,  but  we 
did  not  take  advantage  of  this  to  shirk  or  play;  as  proof 
of  this  I  will  state  that  there  are  men  now  living  in 
Brunswick,  who  will  bear  testimony  to  the  fact  that  the 
"  Bruce  hands,"  as  v\  e  were  called,  brought  the  highest 
prices.  Our  master  received  from  two  hundred  and 
fifty  to  three  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  each  man  or 
boy  over  seventeen  years  old,  the  hirer  to  feed  and 
clothe  us,  etc 

When  the  factory  closed  in  September,  1854,  I  was 
hired  to  Charles  Cabel,  a  farmer,  recently  from  Louisi- 
ana, living  about  four  miles  from  town  and  who  owned 
twenty-five  or  thirty  slaves,  and  was  reported  to  be  a 
very  hard  master  I  had  been  used  to  good  fare,  and 
that  prepared  and  served  clean  and  nice,  but  here  the 
meals  were  served  in  such  unclean  vessels,  while  they 
may  have  been  wholesome,  I  could  not  and  would  not 
eat  them.  W.  B.  Bruce  lived  only  a  mile  away,  and  I 
went  there  to  supper,  stayed  all  night,  took  my  break- 
fast and  dinner  with  me  to  work. 

In  a  few  days  Mrs.  Susan  Cabel  found  this  out  and 
sent  for  me;  I  explainsJ  and  she  said  that  her  Negroes 
were  so  very  dirty  that  she  did  not  blame  me,  and  from 
that  date  she  sent  my  meals  from  her  table,  which  came 
in  nice  clean  dishes  and  in  abundance.  She  was  a  good 
mistress  as  far  as  I  knew. 

Mr.  Cabel  had  a  very  large  number  of  lazy  slaves 
and  often  inflicted   punishment  when,  in   my  opinion,  it 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    I V.  69 

might  have  been  avoided.  After  I  had  been  at  his 
p'ace  about  ten  days  he  sent  me  with  another  fellow 
named  Ike  to  split  rails  in  a  large  body  of  timber  north 
of  h's  house.  We  had  been  at  this  work  but  a  very 
short  time,  whjn  I  discovered  Ike  to  be  a  lazy  man.  I 
had  nev-r  been  thrashed  on  account  of  lazin  ss  and  did 
not  want  to  chance  it  at  that  time,  knowing  the  reputa- 
tion of  Mr.  Cabel  as  a  h  ird  master.  I  had  never  split 
rails  bef  >re  and  was  put  under  Ike  for  training,  and  of 
course  hid  to  do  as  he  directed.  He  was  a  great  story- 
teller and  would  often  stop  to  tell  a  story.  I  urged  him 
to  work  but  could  not  keep  him  at  it  over  ten  minutes 
at  a  time. 

One  day  when  we  had  cut  off  a  log  and  I  had 
commenced  to  split  it,  while  Ike  was  sitting  in  the 
shade,  I  called  on  him  to  come  and  help  me  turn  the 
log  over,  which  he  failed  to  do,  and  I  went  on  working 
it  alone.  Mr.  Cabel  who  had  been  watching  near  by 
and  had  heard  all  that  was  said  came  up,  as  if  by 
magic,  gun  in  hand,  which  he  set  by  a  stump,  took  out 
his  kaife,  cut  a  hickory  switch  and  ordered  Ike  to  take 
off  his  shirt.  Ike  begged  in  vain,  but  he  gave  him 
thirty  or  more  lashes  on  the  bare  back.  During  th:s 
exciting  time  I  was  scared  almost  to  d^ath,  thinking  my 
ti  ne  would  come  next.  I  was  tempted  to  break  and 
run  to  my  master,  but  knowing  I  had  done  my  duty  I 
concluded  not  to  do  so  until  I  was  called  to  take  my 
share  of  this  thrashing.  I  had  determined  to  run  if 
called  and  take  chances  on  being  shot,  for  I  could  not 
and  would  not  stand  such  punishment  as  was  given  Ike. 
When  he  had  finished  whipping  Ike  he  said,  ik  Henry 
will  work  if  you  will  let  him;  I  have  been  listening  to 
you  f  >r  an  hour."     I  can  never  express  the  relief  those 


JO  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

words  gave  me,  for  I  did  not  want  to  be  forced  to  resist 
and  would  not  submit  to  any  kind  of  corporal  punish- 
ment, and  was  glad  that  I  did  not  run  while  Ike  was 
being  punished.  I  served  out  my  term  with  Mr  Cabel, 
which  ended  December  25,  1854,  without  even  being 
scolded.  Ike  and  I  were  separated  after  the  above- 
mentioned  incident,  fully  half  a  mile,  and  I  was  given  a 
task  which  I  performed  easily  every  day.  I  shall  speak 
of  Mr.  Cabel  again  later  on. 

On  January  1,  1855,  with  three  younger  brothers,  I 
was  hired  to  Mr.  Beasley,  who  owned  a  large  tobacco 
factory  and  worked  about  eighty  hands,  mostly  hired.  I 
did  not  want  to  go  there  and  told  my  master  so  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  Beasley,  who  asked  the  reasons  why. 
I  told  him  that  I  had  heard  that  he  was  a  hard  man  to 
please.  My  master  remained  silent  during  this  conver- 
sation and  finally  Beasley  and  I  came  to  terms,  he 
assuring  me  that  if  we  worked  for  him  as  he  had  been 
informed  we  did  for  Mr.  Barrett,  we  would  have  no 
trouble.  After  it  was  arranged  my  master  took  me 
aside  and  severely  scolded  me  for  speaking  so  harshly 
to  Mr.  Beasley.  I  took  it  easy  for  I  never  sauced  him 
at  any  time.  But  that  was  my  opportunity  to  make 
easy  sailing  that  year  with  Beasley. 

The  overseer  at  this  factory  was  named  Tom 
Black,  who  was  really  a  much  better  man  than  old 
Jesse  Hare,  and  if  one  would  do  his  work  faithfully  he 
would  have  no  trouble  with  Mr.  Black  He  and  I 
became  fast  friends  and  I  had  an  easy  time,  but  I  always 
did  my  work  well.  Beasley  gave  an  order  that  four 
men  were  to  come  to  his  residence  after  the  factory 
closed,  at  sunset  each  day  to  cut  or  saw  wood.  When 
my  time  came  I  refused  to  go.    He  was  informed  of  the 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  7 1 

fact  and  said  he  was  going  to  have  Tom  Black  whip  me 
the  next  day,  which  was  Saturday;  in  fact  he  told  him 
in  my  presence  to  do  it  on  Monday  morning.  But  pre- 
vious to  this  he  called  me  up  to  know  why  I  disobeyed 
his  order.  I  told  him  that  I  -was  not  hired  for  that  pur- 
pose. Oh,  but  how  he  did  cut  up,  yet  he  did  not 
attempt  to  strike  me. 

Before  going  home  to  my  master,  which  I  certainly 
should  have  done,  I  thought  it  best  to  use  a  little  strat- 
egy. During  Sunday  I  had  a  talk  with  Mr.  Black  in 
which  I  told  him  my  plans.  He  advised  me  not  to  go, 
and  said  that  unless  ordered  again  he  would  not 
attempt  to  whip  me,  and  even  then  he  would  give  me 
plenty  of  chance  to  run;  but  he  said  he  would  go  and 
see  Mr.  Beasley  that  day.  Now  what  passed  between 
them  I  am  unable  to  state,  but  when  Mr.  Black 
returned  he  said  it  was  all  right,  and  it  was,  for  I  was 
never  molested  after  that,  and  Mr,  Beasley  revoked  the 
order  and  had  two  men  detailed  to  saw  wood  about 
four  o'clock  every  evening.  I  had  no  more  trouble  that 
year  with  Beasley  or  his  overseer. 

I  enjoyed  life  in  the  factories  very  much.  We  had 
good  wholesome  food  and  plenty  of  it,  and  when  the 
factory  closed  at  sunset  we  were  free  to  go  where  we 
pleased  until  sunri  e  next  day.  I  remember  that  the 
M.  E.  Church,  South,  allowed  the  colored  people  to 
meet  in  the  basement  of  their  church,  and  their  minister 
preached  to  them  every  Sunday,  commencing  at  three 
o'clock,  p.  m.j  and  his  text  was  not  always  from  Luke 
xii.  47,  or  Titus  ii.  9,  but  I  have  no  recollection  of  hear- 
ing one  preached  from  Ephesians  vi,  9,  where  the 
duties  of  master  to  servant  are  explained.  Some  of  the 
ministers  were  good  men  and  preached  reasonable  ser- 


72  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

mons  giving  good  advice,  spiritually  and  morally,  and 
were  beloved  by  their  colored  congregations  I 
remember  one  whose  name  was  W.  G.  Cooper,  who 
was  so  well  admired  by  his  colored  flock  that  they 
raised  forty-five  dollars  and  presented  him  a  suit  of 
clothes,  when  he  went  to  conference,  and  sent  a  peti- 
tion to  have  him  returned  to  that  charge. 

Nearly  every  slave  made  some  money  which  he 
could  spend  for  fine  clothes  or  such  other  things  suited 
to  his  taste,  so  that  when  attending  church  I  remember 
that  the  slaves  were  dressed  almost  as  nicely  as  their 
owners,  at  any  rate  they  looked  as  well  as  I  have  seen 
them  on  like  occasions  since  they  have  been  free. 

We  had  some  colored  preachers,  too,  who  held 
prayer  meetings  in  their  quarters  and  preached  every 
Sunday  afternoon  in  the  white  people's  church,  but 
there  was  always  some  leading  white  man  present  to 
take  note  of  what  the  preacher  said.  If  he  used  words 
deemed  insubordinate  or  not  in  keeping  with  the  pro- 
slavery  idea,  he  was  promptly  stopped,  there  and  then, 
and  lectured  for  his  mistake,  and  in  some  cases  his 
license  was  recalled.  Of  course  these  licences  were 
granted  by  his  master  to  preach  during  good  behavior. 
Not  three  in  ten  of  these  preachers  could  read  their 
texts  or  any  other  p  irt  of  rh:  Bible,  but  thjy  stood  in 
the  pulpit,  opened  the  Bible,  gave  out  the  song  wh:ch 
cli.l  not  always  fit  the  tune,  and  delivered  p  ayer  with 
much  force  and  in  language  that,  whil  ■  not  the  choicest, 
greatly  impressed  its  hearers 

There  wjre  a  few  colored  men  who  could  read  the 
Bible,  in  and  around  Brunswick  at  that  time,  but  none 
of  them  were  preachers  The  men  who  felt  themselves 
called  to  preach  had   no   education  at  all,  but  had  ajjur 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  73 

amount  of  brain,  good  memories,  were  fluent  talkers, 
and  considered  pious  and  truthful.  They  could  line  a 
hymn  from  memory  as  clearly  as  their  masters  could 
from  their  books,  and  take  a  text  and  state  were  it  was 
to  be  found. 

I  remember  a  story  told  on  Uncle  Tom  Ewing,  an 
old  colored  preacher,  who  was  praying  on  one  occas- 
sion,  after  the  close  of  his  sermon,  in  the  church  near 
Jacob  Vennable's  place,  five  miles  from  Brunswick. 
The  old  fellow  got  warmed  up,  and  used  the  words, 
"  Free  indeed,  free  from  death,  free  from  hell,  free  from 
work,  free  from  the  white  folks,  free  from  everything." 
After  the  meeting  closed,  Jacob  Vennable,  who  sat  in 
front  of  the  pulpit  took  Tom  to  task  and  threatened  to 
have  his  license  revoked  if  he  ever  used  such  language 
in  public.  Jacob  Vennable  was  a  slave  h  )lder  and  con- 
sidered a  fair  master,  so  I  was  informed  by  Jesse,  one 
of  his  slaves,  and  others  who  were  supposed  to  know. 
I  heard  Unc'e  Tom  preach  and  pray  many  times  after 
the  above-described  occurrence,  but  never  heard  him 
u^e  the  words  quoted  above. 

I  remember  when  a  question  as  to  the  purity  of 
Christians  (whether  two  clean  sheets  could  soil  each 
other)  was  being  agitated  among  the  colored  people  in 
the  Bluff,  as  the  hilly  portion  of  the  country,  fives  miles 
east  of  Brunswick,  was  then  cal.ed  It  was  argued 
pro  and  con  with  considerable  warmth  on  both  sides 
by  the  preachers  and  lay  members.  Considerable 
excitement  was  created  thereby,  and  pending  this  the 
white  men  called  a  meeting  and  ordered  some  of  the 
leading  advocates  of  this  new  doctrine  to  appear  before 
them,  and  they  were  then  and  there  notified  that  if  they 
did  not   stop   that  kind   of  talk,  they,  the  white  people, 


74  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

would  whip  every  man  who  favored  the  clean  sheet 
idea.  That  ended  the  new  idea  and  I  heard  no  more 
of  it.  I  was  then  living  on  a  farm  in  that  neighbor- 
hood and  know  whereof  I  speak. 

There  is  this  to  be  said  for  the  slaveholders  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  at  least,  that  they  believed  in  hav- 
ing their  slave  women  live  a  virtuous  life,  and  encour- 
aged them  in  getting  married,  and  did  not  under  any 
circumstances  allow  plural  marriages  among  them.  Of 
course  there  would  be  occasionally  a  strange  freak,  a 
black  mother  with  a  very  light-colored  child,  whose 
real  father's  name  was  never  stated,  but  these  cases 
were  rare,  the  exception  rather  than  the  rule.  When 
two  lovers  became  engaged,  the  consent  of  the  girl's 
parents,  and  that  of  both  masters,  if  they  belonged  to 
different  owners,  had  to  be  obtained.  Then  the  girl's 
master  would  give  them  a  wedding  supper,  and  invite 
a  few  of  his  white  friends,  who  would  dine  first,  then 
the  bridal  party  and  their  invited  guests.  The  cere- 
mony was  usually  performed  by  a  colored  preacher. 
After  supper  dancing  commenced,  which  lasted  until  a 
late  hour,  when  they  would  disperse.  The  master  had 
built  and  furnished  a  cabin  for  the  couple,  and  when 
the  time  came  to  retire,  they  were  conducted  to  their 
cabin  and  left,  after  receiving  many  blessings. 

I  have  stated  in  this  chapter,  that  there  were  many 
masters  who  encouraged  slave  girls  in  their  efforts  to 
live  virtuous  lives,  and  in  a  former  chapter,  I  stated 
that  there  were  thousands  of  high-toned  families,, 
although  held  in  slavery  by  the  laws  of  the  land,  and 
who  clearly  understood  their  helpless  condition,  and  yet, 
by  reason  of  having  superior  blood  in  their  veins,  were 
enabled  thereby  to  attain  the  very  best  conditions  possi- 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  75 

ble  under  the  circumstances.  These  people  were  very 
sensitive  as  to  their  moral  character  and  standing,  and 
abhorred  disgrace  and  dishonor.  To  prove  this  I  will 
cite  a  case  which  occurred,  and  one  of  which  I  have 
personal  knowledge. 

There  lived  a  slave  owner  named  V.  Harper  about 
nine  miles  from  Brunswick,  Missouri,  who  owned  quite 
a  number  of  slaves.  Among  them  was  an  old  man,  his 
wife,  and  several  grown  children,  one  of  whom  was  a 
very  good-looking  girl,  about  nineteen  years  old  This 
family  were  considered  high-toned  and  greatly  re- 
spected by  others,  even  their  owners,  for  iheir  moral 
worth  and  character,  and  held  themselves  quite  above 
the  common  slave 

The  girl  above  mentioned  was  considered  to  be  of 
clean  character  and  quite  a  belle.  It  is  not  known  who 
led  her  from  the  paths  of  rectitude,  but  when  she  be- 
came aware  of  the  fact,  that  at  no  distant  day,  she,  a 
single  girl,  would  become  a  mother,  and  realized  the 
dishonor  and  loss  of  character  which  would  follow  the 
exposure,  she  decided  that  death  was  preferable  in  her 
case  to  disgrace,  walked  two  miles  to  reach  the  Mis- 
souri River,  plunged  herself  into  it,  and  was  drowned. 
This  occurred  about  the  year  1858. 


?6  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  VII 

From  1857  t  >  186  j  times  had  become  rather  hard 
on  slaves  in  Cfnriton  County,  Missouri,  and  were  very 
little  better  for  the  free  Negroes,  for  while  they  were 
called  free,  they  really  had  but  few  more  privileges  than 
the  slave.  They  had  to  choose  guardians  to  transact 
all  their  business,  even  to  writing  them  a  pass  to  go 
from  one  township  to  another  in  the  same  county. 
They  could  not  own  real  estate  in  their  own  right,  ex- 
cept through  their  guardian,  neither  could  they  sell 
their  crop  without  his  written  consent.  Of  course,  he 
made  a  charge  for  everything  he  did  for  them,  which 
was  quite  a  drain  upon  their  resources.  There  were 
two  or  three  families  of  free  Negroes  in  that  county, 
and  some  of  them  I  olten  visited.  In  some  cases  slave 
owners  did  not  allow  their  slaves  to  associate  or  in  any 
way  communicate  with  free  Negroes,  but  our  owner 
did  not  prohibit  us  in  this  respect,  neither  did  W.  B. 
Bruce. 

Previous  to  1840,  an  old  man  named  Brown,  and 
his  wife,  together  with  their  slaves,  came  to  Chariton 
County  from  the  South.  They  had  '  acquired  seven 
hundred  acres  of  land  in  that  neighborhood,  which  were 
located  about  ten  miles  from  Brunswick.  They  decided 
to  set  their  slaves  free  and  leave  to  them,  by  will,  all 
their  earthly  possessions.  In  order  to  fit  these  freed 
people  for  the  battle  of  life,  they  determined  to  educate 
them,  and  for  this  purpose  started  a  school  on  the  plan- 
tation, with  themselves  as  teachers.     All  who  were  old 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  J? 

enough  were  compelled  to  attend.  I  am  unable  to 
state  exactly  the  date  when  this  commenced,  but 
remember  that  those  old  enough  to  attend  it  could  read 
and  write  fairly  well  when  I  became  acquainted  with 
them  in  1850.  Unfortunately  these  people  did  not  suc- 
ceed well;  they  became  poorer  each  year  after  the 
death  of  their  master 

There  were  found  many  causes  for  this  state  of 
affairs.  The  property  was  left  to  them  as  a  whole,  and 
was  only  to  be  subdivided  under  certain  conditions 
named  in  the  will.  All  were  not  industrious,  and  the 
thrifty  had  to  support  the  lazy.  The  agent  claimed  the 
right  to  sell  the  crop  each  year  and  divide  the  earnings 
equally  among  the  several  families. 

By  order  of  the  Court  the  plantation  was  sold  in 
1855,  and  the  proceeds  divided  equally  among  them^ 
after  which  the  families  soon  scattered,  some  going  to 
Iowa,  and  others  to  Illinois.  I  have  not  heard  from 
any  of  them  since.  The  general  opinion  was  that  their 
guardian,  P.  T.  Abel,  got  the  cream  of  that  estate,  be- 
cause when  he  arranged  the  sale  of  the  plantation  to 
Captain  Withers,  he  retained  five  hundred  dollars  of  the 
three  thousand  for  his  own  professional  service. 

As  already  stated,  there  were  three  families  of 
freed  Colored  people  in  that  count)',  and  they  could 
only  visit  one  another  occasionally,  because  they  lived 
about  ten  or  fifteen  miles  ?part  ;  to  do  so  they  had  to 
secure  a  written  permit  from  their  guardian,  for  if  one 
of  them  was  caught  on  the  public  road  without  a  pass,, 
he  was  subject  to  arrest  by  any  white  man  who  chose 
to  make  it.  Respecting  these  families  of  free  Colored 
people,  I  wish  to  state  that  there  was  one  exception, 
Davy  Moore,  or  "  Free  Davy,"  as   he   was  called,  who 


y8  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

lived  about  five  miles  from  Keytesville,  the  county  seat 
of  Chariton  county.  He  was  a  man  of  good  character, 
industrious  habits,  and  greatly  respected  by  the  better 
class  of  white  people.  On  account  of  faithful  and 
efficient  service,  his  old  master,  Colonel  Moore,  gave 
him  his  freedom,  also  that  of  his  wife  and  children,  and 
eighty  acres  of  land  He  was  treated  like  a  man;  held 
the  respect  not  only  of  the  Colored,  but  the  white  peo- 
ple as  well,  and  enjoyed  the  same  privileges  as  any 
other  man,  excepting  the  right  to  vote.  In  his  veins 
flowed  superior  blood,  and  as  has  already  been  stated 
in  a  former  chapter,  that  blood  will  tell,  regardless  of 
the  color  of  the  individual  in  whose  veins  it  flows. 

Singularly  enough  I  had  more  real  pleasure  and 
real  freedom  than  these  free  people,  for  with  my  mas- 
ter's horse  and  a  pass  from  him  I  could  ride  over  the 
county,  in  fact  did  whenever  occasion  demanded  it,  and 
without  molestation.  If  disturbed  I  had  only  to  show 
my  pass,  when  I  would  be  immediately  released. 

Two  older  brothers  of  mine,  who  were  bricklayers 
and  stone  masons,  hired  their  time  from  their  owner 
and  travelled,  not  only  in  the  county  where  we  lived, 
but  also  in  the  adjoining  counties  of  Carroll,  Howard 
and  Randolph,  in  search  of  work,  armed  with  a  pass 
good  only  in  Chariton  County.  They  had  no  trouble 
even  outside  of  that  county,  because  they  were  known 
as  slaves.  They  made  their  own  contracts,  collected 
their  pay,  and  were  not  disturbed. 

I  recall  but  one  instance  where  either  of  them  had 
any  trouble.  One  of  them  had  secured  a  job  in  Ran- 
dolph County  by  underbidding  a  white  man.  Upon 
finding  he  belonged  to  a  man  living  in  another  county, 
this  white  man  had  him  arrested.     He   was   carried  to 


v/l 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  79 

Huntsville,  the  county  seat,  for  trial.  Fortunately  there 
was  a  man  there  named  Cass  Wisdom,  who  knew  our 
family,  and  who  had  him  promptly  released  and  became 
responsible  for  my  brother's  behavior  while  in  that 
county.  So  that  the  only  difference  between  the  slave 
and  the  free  Negro,  as  I  saw  it,  was  that  the  latter  had 
no  boss  to  make  him  work,  or  punish  him  if  he  did  not; 
he  could  ride  over  the  county  every  day  if  only  pro- 
vided with  a  pass  from  his  guardian;  he  could  spend 
his  earnings  as  he  pleased  after  paying  his  guardian's 
share  They  certainly  did  not  have  as  much  fun  as  I 
had,  going  to  balls  and  parties  given  by  slaves,  where 
they  were  not  allowed  to  come.  But  still  the  free  fel- 
lows felt  themselves  better  than  the  slave,  because  of 
the  fact,  I  suppose,  that  they  were  called  free,  while  in 
reality  they  were  no  more  free  than  the  slave,  until  the 
war  set  both  classes  free.  So  bitter  was  the  feeling  ex- 
isting in  Kansas  in  March,  1864,  that  those  who  be- 
came free  by  the  war  were  called,  in  derision,  by  the 
freeborns,  "  contrabands." 

An  effort  was  made  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas,  in 
1865  or  1866,  to  organize  a  combination  or  social  cir- 
cle, which  allowed  no  contraband  to  be  in  it.  The 
object  of  this  organization,  as  I  understood  it,  was  to 
control  everything  in  which  Colored  people  had  a 
voice,  and  it  was  to  some  extent  successful,  or  at  least 
for  a  while.  During  those  years  a  steady  stream  of 
contrabands  poured  into  Kansas,  and  soon  constituted 
about  ninety  per  cent,  of  the  colored  population.  In  a 
few  years  many  had  acquired  little  homes  and  standing, 
and  had  learned  not  only  the  object  of  the  free  class, 
but  their  own  strength,  and  it  was  not  long  before  they 
had  relegated  many  of  these  would-be   leaders  to  the 


80  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

rear  Of  course  this  brought  about  a  conflicting  and 
unfortunate  state  of  affairs,  The  freeborns  managed  to 
keep  control  of  politics  and  especially  the  church  and 
other  societies;  they  not  only  found,  but  created  places 
for  one  another.  For  a  long  time  after  the  war,  a  con- 
traband preacher,  however  competent  he  might  be, 
could  not  get  a  charge  that  would  give  him  a  decent 
support.  All  the  fat  places  in  the  connection  were 
given  to  the  other  class.  If  a  contraband  was  sent  to  a 
small  charge,  and  worked  it  up  so  as  to  get  a  lair  living 
out  of  it,  and  so  reported  to  the  conference,  by  some 
means  he  was  replaced  by  one  of  the  other  set,  and 
sent  further  out. 

I  remember  a  worthy  man  named  Jesse  Mills,  now 
dead,  who  was  a  man  of  clean  character,  and  had  some 
education,  or  at  any  rate  could  read  and  write  ;  he  had 
been  preaching  before  the  war,  and  was  a  slave.  For 
nearly  ten  years  that  man  did  not  get  a  decent  charge, 
and  if  he  brought  one  up  to  the  point  where  it  sup- 
ported him,  he  had  to  go  in  order  to  give  place  to  some 
fellow  preaeher  from  the  North,  out  of  a  job. 

There  were  others  served  equally  as  badly  as  Jesse 
Mills,  whose  names  I  have  not  the  space  to  mention, 
save  one,  who  I  feel  should  not  be  overlooked.  Rev. 
Moses  White  had  been  a  preacher  for  several  years 
prior  to  the  war,  could  read  and  write,  in  fact  preached 
quite  an  intelligent  sermon,  but  not  such  an  one  as 
would  suit  the  conference;  he  therefore  could  not  get 
a  charge.  He  had  been  one  of  the  men  who  organized 
and  built  the  Colored  A.  M  E.  Church  at  Leaven- 
worth, prior  to  1864;  but  he  could  not  be  or  was  not 
assigned  to  any  charge  in  that  conference,  and  about 
1867  or   18(8,  knowing   or  feeling    that    he  had    been 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  8 1 

called  to  preach  the  gospel,  he  left  the   conference   and 
organized  a  church  on  his  own  responsibility. 

I  write  of  these  matters  as  I  knew  them,  not  being 
a  member  of  any  church  at  that  time.  In  after  years 
young  men  got  in,  such  as  W.  A.  Moore,  an  ex-slave, 
a  man  of  clean  character  and  of  fine  education,  and 
greatly  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him  ;  J.  W.  Wilson, 
who  had  been  a  slave  and  a  brave  soldier,  and  others  of 
their  class,  self-educated  men.  They  soon  superseded 
those  old  fogies  or  leeches,  if  the  term  is  admissible. 
So  clearly  and  successfully  has  this  been  accomplished 
by  the  admission  of  young  men,  sons  of  ex-slaves,  that 
to-day  the  term  "contraband,"  or  "freeborn,"  has  been 
forgotten.  But  I  have  drifted  away  from  my  subject, 
"  slavery,  as  I  saw  it  on  a  plantation  in  Missouri,"  and 
with  the  permission  of  the  reader,  will  return,  taking  up 
the  line  of  recollections  where  I  left  off. 


82  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Early  in  the  Spring  of  1856,  our  master  had 
bought  the  Mann  Plantation,  located  about  seven  miles 
east  of  Brunswick,  and  had  made  all  arrangements  to 
move  to  it,  taking  mother  and  four  of  her  children,  in- 
cluding myself.  I  did  not  want  to  go,  but  my  desires 
in  that  respect  were  not  considered,  and  I  went  with- 
out entering  even  a  mild  protest.  Having  lived  in  the 
city  so  long,  I  had  lost  all  love  for  farm  life.  I  had  no 
knowledge  of  farming,  especially  that  kind  carried  on  in 
that  part  of  the  state,  and  personal  experience  taught 
me  that  my  master  possessed  but  little  more  than  I  did, 
because  he  ordered  so  many  things  done  that  were  a 
loss  of  time  and  money.  In  his  experimenting,  for 
such  it  was,  he  would  give  an  order  one  day,  and 
change  it  the  next,  causing  the  loss  of  many  days  of 
labor.  But  it  was  my  duty  to  obey  him,  right  or  wrong, 
and  I  did  it  right  along. 

After  I  had  gained  some  practical  knowledge,  by 
experience,  of  the  system  of  farming  in  that  county,  I 
ventured  to  suggest  to  him  when  I  saw  a  better  plan, 
or  the  uselessness  of  the  order  given.  Of  course  he 
would  not  take  the  course  I  had  suggested  at  the  time, 
and  in  its  entirety,  but  after  thinking  it  over,  he  would 
change  his  orders  as  nearly  to  my  plans  as  possible, 
without  adopting  them.  But,  oh,  how  I  would  catch  it 
if  he  found  flaws  in  them  afterwards. 

He  worked  the  first  year  on  that  plantation  almost 
as  steadily  as  any  of  us,  but  that  was  his  last  year  of 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  83 

work  while   he  was   my  owner.     He  was  a  man   who 
never  talked  much   to  his  slaves  at  any  time,  as  I  have 
worked  with  him  without  a  word  being  said,  aside  from 
my  duty,  between  us  many  days,  and  I  rather  preferred 
it,  because  if  he  said  anything,  it  would  usually  be  scold- 
ing     I  have  a  very  clear  recollection  of  the  amount  of 
scolding  I  got  the  first  Spring  on  that  farm,  when   lay- 
ing off  corn  and  tobacco  rows.     It  was  my  first   effort, 
and  in  nearly  every  row  there  would  be   one   or  more 
crooks,  for   which  he  would  scold,  then    take   my  horse 
and  plow,  straighten   the   row,  and    give    them    back; 
pretty  soon  I  would  have  it  as  crooked  as  before.     The 
result  of  all  this  was  that  I  soon  learned  to  lay  off  a  row 
nearly  as  straight  as  he  could,  and  I  will  state   that  he 
could  and  did   lay  off  the    straightest  row   I   had   ever 
seen.     He  insisted  that  corn  grew   better  in    straight 
rows  than  in  crooked  ones,  and  I  became   convinced  of 
the  truth  of  his   statements   and  took   pride   in  having 
every  row  as   straight  as   if   laid   off  by  line,  and  have 
been  complimented  on  account  of  it. 

At  this  plantation  we  had  some  neighbors  whom  I 
did  not  like,  men  who  came  from  Kentucky  and  other 
southern  states,  and  who  tried  to  keep  up  the  customs 
in  vogue  in  those  states  of  curtailing  the  liberties  of 
their  slaves,  liberties  which  slaves  in  other  parts  of 
Missouri  enjoyed;  but  even  then  the  life  of  a  slave  in 
that  part  of  Missouri  was  far  better  than  in  some  of  the 
older  slave  states. 

Being  a  green  hand  at  farming,  I  made  many  mis- 
takes, which  caused  the  boss  to  scold,  but  as  that  was 
all  the  punishment  he  inflicted,  I  soon  became  used  to 
that,  and  went  ahead  doing  the  best  I  could.  My  boss 
really  delighted    in  scolding;  he    could  quarrel,   make 


84  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

more  noise,  and  do  less  whipping  than  any  man  in  that 
county.  He  was  not  mean,  in  the  sense  that  some  of 
his  neighbors  were,  and  I  have  always  believed  that  he 
tried  to  appear  to  his  neighbors  what  he  was  not,  a  hard 
master.  The  reason  why  I  entertained  this  belief  is 
that  in  the  presence  of  a  neighbor  he  always  scolded 
more,  acted  m  »re  crabbed,  and  was  harder  to  please 
than  when  alone  with  us,  for  as  soon  as  the  neighbor 
left,  we  could  get  along  with  him  very  well.  We  were 
well  fed,  had  such  vegetables  as  were  raised  on  the 
farm,  and  save  biscuit  and  coffee,  we  had  such  food  as 
was  prepared  for  him. 

Farming  in  Missouri  consisted  in  raising  tobacco, 
corn,  wheat  and  stock,  but  tobacco  was  the  principal 
product  for  sale.  With  five  hands  we  usually  raised 
about  twenty  thousand  pounds,  which  at  that  time  sold 
in  Brunswick  for  about  eight  cents  per  pound.  Each 
man  was  allowed  one  acre  of  ground  to  raise  his  own 
little  crop,  which,  if  well  cultivated,  would  produce 
about  nine  hundred  pounds  of  tobacco.  We  used  his 
horse  and  plow,  and  worked  our  crop  as  well  as  we 
did  his  in  the  daytime,  and  when  ready  for  market,  he 
sold  our  crop  with  his,  giving  each  one  his  share. 
This  was  our  money,  to  be  spent  for  whatever  we 
wanted  aside  from  that  given  by  him.  He  gave  two 
suits  of  summer  and  one  of  winter  clothes,  hats  and 
boots,  blankets  and  underwear.  Our  cash  was  spent 
for  Sunday  clothes,  sugar,  coffee  and  flour,  for  we 
would  have  biscuits  at  least  once  a  week,  and  coffee 
every  day. 

The  practice  of  allowing  slaves  ground  to  raise  a 
little  crop  obtained  generally  among  slave  owners,  but 
most  of  them  had  to  work  their   crop  of  tobacco  after 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  85 

sundown,  and  without  plowing.  The  master  got  the 
benefit  of  this  money  after  all,  because  the  slave  spent 
it  for  his  own  pleasure  and  comfort,  which  was  a  direct 
advantage  to  his  master. 

There  were  several  slave  owners  around  us  at  this 
farm,  some  were  called  mean  and  some  considered  fair, 
but  the  meanest  man  near  us  was  a  Yankee  teacher, 
preacher  and  farmer,  S.  J.  M.  Bebee,  who  owned  or 
hired  four  or  five  slaves,  and  treated  them  ver}-  meanly. 
This  man  came  to  that  county  from  the  East,  and  by 
teaching  and  preaching  saved  up  money  enough  to  buy 
a  farm,  and  was  considered  by  the  Colored  people 
meaner  than  the  original  slave-holders  I  lived  on  a 
farm  within  two  miles  of  Mr.  Bebee's  farm,  and  had 
good  opportunities  to  know  the  truth  of  what  I  state. 

There  lived  near  our  home  an  old  gentleman 
named  Ashby,  usually  called  "  Father  Ashby,"  who 
was  a  good  man,  much  beloved  by  white  and  black, 
and  who  dropped  dead  in  the  pulpit  at  the  close  of  one 
of  his  sermons.  Previous  to  his  death  I  used  to  visit 
his  place,  and  sometimes  we  exchanged  work.  He 
owned  three  or  four  slaves  and  treated  them  kindly. 
Pending  the  campaign  of  1856,  when  Fremont  was  the 
Republican  nominee  for  President,  I  had  a  talk  with 
"  Father  Ashby."  He  then  said  that  he  believed  slav- 
ery to  be  wrong,  but  it  was  handed  down  to  him  from 
his  father,  and  although  he  held  and  owned  slaves,  he 
had  never  bought  or  sold  one,  and  had  always  treated 
them  well. 

I  had  learned  to  read,  and  could  understand  enough 
of  the  political  situation  at  that  date  to  be  a  "  Fremont 
man,"  "but  a  very  silent  one.  I  am  safe  in  saying  that 
Fremont  did  not  receive  one  vote  in   Chariton   County 


86  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT, 

at  that  election.  Certainly  there  was  not  an  outspoken 
Republican  in  the  county.  Slave  holders  never  talked 
politics  in  the  presence  of  slaves,  but  by  some  means 
they  learned  the  news,  kept  posted  as  to  what  was 
going  on,  and  expected  to  be  set  free  if  Fremont  was 
elected.  A  Colored  man  who  could  read  was  a  very 
important  fellow,  for  they  would  come  miles  and  bring 
stolen  papers  for  him  to  read  to  them  at  night  or  on 
Sunday,  and  I  have  known  them  to  go  to  town  and 
buy  them  from  Dr.  Blue,  an  old  slave-holder,  and  bring 
them  to  some  slave  who  could  read. 

Our  owner  did  not  like  the  farm  he  owned,  and 
early  in  1857  sold  it,  and  bought  uncultivated  land 
adjoining  his  brother-in-law,  W.  B.  Bruce.  Here  I  had 
to  open  a  place  in  the  brush  for  a  home,  and  for  our 
own  quarters,  assist  in  putting  up  buildings,  make  the 
rails  necessary  to  fence  eighty  acres  of  land,  break  it  up 
and  put  in  a  crop,  all  of  which  was  accomplished  in 
one  year.  I  had  got  used  then  to  farm  life,  and  rather 
enjoyed  it. 

This  farm  was  only  one-half  a  mile  from  W.  B. 
Bruce's,  and  the  families  were  now  practically  together. 
Our  master  and  his  son,  Willie,  spent  a  great  deal  of 
their  time  at  Bruce's,  and  so  did  the  Colored  families. 

I  was  then  a  full  fledged  foreman  with  four 
younger  brothers,  who  constituted  my  force,  but  as  a 
matter  of  fact,  I  got  more  scolding  than  any  one  of 
them,  for  the  reason  that  I  was  held  responsible  for 
everything,  as  our  owner  seldom  went  over  any  part  of 
the  farm,  and  left  me  to  manage  it  entirely,  reporting 
to  him  every  morning.  I  really  had  full  control  of  the 
place,  but  he  did  not  want  me  to  think  so,  and  acted 
rather  queer  quite  often.     He  had  a  habit  of  calling  me 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  87 

to  his  door  every  morning  after  breakfast,  to  report 
what  was  done  the  previous  day,  and  what  I  thought 
should  be  done  that  day.  I  would  state  my  opinion, 
and  he  would  be  certain  to  make  light  of  it,  get  angry, 
tell  me  I  had  no  sense,  etc.,  make  some  suggestions, 
then  cool  down  and  tell  me  to  go  ahead  and  do  just  the 
work  I  had  suggested.  He,  I  believe,  enjoyed  that 
kind  of  acting,  and  I  had  got  used  to  it  and  took  it 
quietly,  for  that  was  the  extent  of  my  punishment. 

We  had  but  one  neighbor  who  was  called  a  hard 
master,  Charles  Cabel,  for  whom  I  had  previously 
worked.  Cabel  had  rather  a  lazy  set  of  slaves,  with 
one  exception,  a  young  man  named  Samuel  Savage, 
and  this,  I  suppose,  made  him  appear  meaner  than  he 
really  was.  His  farm  joined  ours,  and  therefore  I 
could  hear  and  see  much  that  was  done.  I  am  not  an 
apologist  for  Mr.  Cabel  simply  because  he  treated  me 
nicely,  not  only  when  I  was  hired  to  him,  but  often 
afterwards  on  our  farm.  He  saw  what  fine  crops  we 
raised  every  year,  more  and  better  tobacco,  which  sold 
for  more  money  than  his,  while  we  worked  but  five 
hands,  and  he  had  ten  or  twelve. 

There  was  no  whipping  on  our  place  at  any  time, 
while  on  his  some  one  was  whipped  nearly  every  week. 
Mr.  Cabel  used  to  come  over  on  our  land  and  talk  with 
me  quite  often,  and  insisted  that  his  Negroes  made  him 
appear  mean,  that  if  he  had  such  Negroes  as  we  were, 
he  would  never  hit  one.  He  said  this  to  me  many 
times;  yet  his  slaves  called  him  the  meanest  man  in  the 
county  I  am  safe  in  stating,  that  I  had  more  talk  with 
Mr.  Cabel  during  the  five  or  six  years  we  lived  as 
neighbors,  than  with  any  slave  owner  during  my  service 
as  a  slave.     Often  he  would  come  where  I  was  at  work 


88  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

and  entertain  me  for  an  hour;  he  evidently  enjoyed  my 
company,  and  I  confess  a  liking  for  him. 

I  recall  an  instance  where  he  whipped  four  of  his 
men  within  calling  or  hearing  distance  of  me.  I  went 
to  the  timber  to  make  some  rails.  Our  timber  land, 
which  was  four  miles  away,  joined  Mr.  Cabel's,  and  he 
sent  four  of  his  men  to  make  rails,  and  we  all  went  on 
Monday.  With  the  aid  of  a  brother  about  sixteen 
years  old,  I  had  cut  and  split  four  hundred  rails  by  two 
o'clock,  or  thereabouts,  on  Wednesday,  not  quite  three 
days.  Mr.  Cabel  came  to  me  and  asked  when  I  com- 
menced, and  on  being  told,  proceeded  to  count  my 
rails,  and  when  through,  went  over  to  where  his  men 
were.  I  don't  think  he  found  them  at  work;  at  any 
rate,  in  a  short  time,  I  heard  the  lash  and  the  men  beg- 
ging for  mercy.  Pretty  soon  he  came  back  to  me,  and 
said  his  men  had  made  only  two  hundred  and  sixty 
rails,  and  then  asked  if  I  blamed  him  for  punishing 
them.  What  could  I  say  under  the  circumstances, 
knowing  that  there  were  four  of  them  as  against  two  of 
us,  and  one  a  mere  boy  ? 

My  opinion  is  that  Mr.  Cabel  as  well  as  his  slaves 
were  to  be  blamed  for  the  condition  that  existed  on 
that  farm,  based  upon  the  following  reasons:  The  mas- 
ter who  treated  his  slaves  humanely  had  less  trouble 
with  them,  got  better  service  from  them,  and  could  de- 
pend upon  their  doing  his  work  faithfully,  even  in  his 
absence,  having  his  interest  in  view  always.  Mal- 
treated slaves  and  ill-treated  beasts  of  burden  are  much 
alike;  if  trained  to  be  punished,  whether  deservedly  or 
not,  they  take  no  interest  in  their  service,  and  go  no 
further  than  the  lash  forces  them,  because  they  receive 
no  encouragement  even  when  they  perform  their  duty 
well. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  89 

I  recall  a  case  in  point,  and  as  the  parties  men- 
tioned are  living  I  call  upon  them  to  set  me  right  if  I 
misrepresent  the  facts  in  the  case.  My  master  bought 
three  yoke  of  oxen  to  break  up  this  new  land  hereto- 
fore mentioned,  much  of  which  was  covered  with  hazel 
brush  about  four  feet  high,  and  to  haul  rails  and  fire- 
wood from  the  timber  land  four  miles  away.  I  had  the 
sole  management  of  this  team,  in  fact  had  to  break  them 
in.  I  took  pride  in  that  team,  trained  my  oxen  to  obey 
without  the  use  of  the  whip,  fed  and  watered  them  well 
under  all  circumstances,  and  they  looked  sleek,  fat  and 
cheerful,  if  I  may  use  the  term  for  an  ox.  I  was  the 
master  in  this  case  and  almost  loved  my  oxen,  and 
believe  they  loved  me.  When  I  said  "  Go,"  they  went, 
regardless  of  the  load,  and  the  question  was  whether 
the  wagon  would  bear  it  up. 

W.  B.  Bruce,  before  mentioned,  owned  three  yoke 
of  oxen  and  a  driver  named  Bob  or  Robert  Bruce,  who 
had  no  love  or  mercy  for  his  team,  took  no  pride  or 
interest  in  his  oxen,  not  even  enough  to  feed  and  water 
them  regularly.  He  used  a  rawhide  whip,  and  I  have 
seen  him  break  their  hides  and  bring  out  the  blood 
when  using  the  lash.  I  have  said  he  did  not  leed  them 
well,  and  the  reasons  why  I  say  it  are  these:  His 
master,  W.  B.  Bruce,  always  raised  plent}'  of  corn  and 
other  kinds  of  stock  feed  and  allowed  his  dumb  crea- 
tures enough,  and  there  existed  no  sufficient  reasons 
why  Bob's  team  should  not  look  as  fat  and  as  sleek, 
and  draw  as  heavy  a  load  as  mine;  but  they  did  not, 
and  the  reasons  are  very  plain.  I  cared  for  mine,  and 
by  so  doing  won  their  confidence  and  love  and  obedi- 
ence, without  the  use  of  the  lash,  while  Bob  used  the 
lash  in  the  place  of  kind  treatment  and  kind  words. 


90  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

In  1857,  the  county  had  become  pretty  thickly 
settled  with  pro-slavery  men  from  the  South,  mostly 
from  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  with  a  few  Eastern  men 
and  Germans.  Of  course  the  men  from  the  East,  as 
soon  as  they  landed,  proclaimed  themselves  in  favor  of 
slavery  and  often  hired  slaves,  and  in  such  cases  treated 
them  meaner  than  the  slave  owner.  They,  it  seemed, 
Tegarded  the  slave  as  a  machine  which  required  no 
rest,  and  they  gave  him  none;  they  would  drive  the 
slave  in  all  kinds  of  weather  without  mercy,  so  much 
so  that  slaves  who  belonged  to  estates  or  others  who 
were  for  hire,  would  beg  to  be  hired  to  some  southern 
man,  who  had  a  knowledge  of  slave  labor  and  the 
slave. 

The  Germans  were  quite  different;  they  never 
hired  slaves,  and  I  can  recall  the  name  of  only  one  who 
owned  a  slave.  His  name  was  Goss  and  he  lived  about 
six  miles  North  of  our  place.  He  treated  his  slaves  as 
he  did  his  children;   he  owned  four  or  five. 

There  was  a  lot  of  poor  white  trash  scattered  over 
that  county,  as  there  was  in  other  southern  states,  and 
they  answered  the  same  purpose,  as  servants  to  their 
masters.  But  few  of  them  could  get  a  job  as  overseer, 
for  the  reason  that  there  were  but  few  large  slave 
owners  in  that  county;  I  mean  that  there  were  not  a 
dozen  men  in  the  county  owning  over  forty,  and  most 
of  them  owned  less;  they  did  their  own  over-seeing. 
But  I  must  say  that  the  poor  whites,  as  a  general  thing, 
in  that  county  at  least,  worked  hard  for  a  living,  and  I 
can  mention  several  who,  by  dint  of  hard  labor  and 
economy,  attained  to  a  fair  standing  in  their  community. 

After  the  landing  at  Brunswick,  of  the  first  install- 
ment   of  Germans,  and    as  they   obtained    homes  and 


SLAVERY    AS    1    SAW    IT.  9 1 

money  they  sent  for  relatives  and  friends  in  Germany, 
so  that  there  was  a  steady  stream  of  German  immi- 
grants to  that  county  each  year  up  to  1864.  But  from 
1853  to  1864,  they  had  to  submit  to  many  indignities 
from  ultra  pro-slavery  men.  I  have  seen  them  kicked 
off  the  principal  street  without  resistence  by  Col.  Pugh 
Price,  a  brother,  I  think,  of  Gen.  Sterling  Price.  But 
still  they  came,  and  soon  some  of  them  had  opened 
business  places  such  as  cooper  and  shoe  shops,  cake 
and  candy  stands,  and  finally  a  brewery.  It  was 
wonderful  to  see  how  rapidly  the  people  learned  to 
drink  lager  beer  made  by  a  German,  John  Stroebe. 

There  was  a  large  tract  of  land  five  or  six  miles 
below  Brunswick,  called  Bowling  Green,  which  lay 
quite  low  and  was  sometimes  overflowed  by  the  Mis- 
souri River.  It  was-  considered  unhealthy  in  that 
localtity  and  on  that  account  the  land  sold  cheap.  The 
Germans  bought  the  greater  part  of  it  and  formed  quite 
a  settlement.  This  land  was  known  as  the  richest  in 
the  county  and  retains  that  reputation  to-day,  and  is 
thickly  settled  and  about  as  healthiul  as  any  other  part 
of  the  county,  is  more  valuable  and  is  still  owned  by 
Germans  whom  we  considered  quite  prosperous 
farmers. 

There  was  a  feeling  created  against  these  people 
about  1859  and  i860,  caused  by  some  suspicious  pro- 
slavery  men  charging  them  with  talking  to  slaves,  and 
I  cannot  say  they  were  not  guilty  They  were  opposed 
to,  slavery  and  when  they  had  an  opportunity  to  tell  a 
slave  so,  without  his  master's  knowledge,  they  often  did 
it,  especially  if  they  had  confidence  in  the  slave.  Slaves 
never  betrayed  a  friend;  they  would  stand  severe 
punishment  rather  than  give  away  a  white  friend  who 
favored  freedom  for  all. 


92  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

There  was  a  white  man,  Dan  Kellogg  by  name,  in 
Brunswick,  who  was  a  peculiar  fellow  and  one  I  could 
never  understand,  and  who  I  think  was  a  northerner. 
For  two  or  three  years  before  the  war  he  was  known 
as  a  friend  of  freedom,  among  the  slaves  at  least.  He 
had  told  some  of  them  so,  and  my  impression  is  that  as 
early  as  1856,  he  told  me  that  he  was  opposed  to  the 
institution  of  slavery,  but  of  course  this  was  sub  rosaj 
but  when  the  war  broke  out  he  had  changed  his  mind 
and  was  classed  with  bushwhackers  in  that  county,  too 
much  of  a  coward  to  join  the  Confederate  Army  and 
stand  up  in  the  open  field  to  shoot  and  be  shot  at;  but 
he  hid  in  dense  forests  and  shot  at  Union  citizens  and 
soldiers  as  they  passed.  I  have  been  told  that  he  was 
captured  by  one  Captain  Truman,  commanding  a  squad 
of  the  Fourth  Missouri  Volunteer  Infantry,  and  ordered 
to  be  hanged  by  the  neck  until  dead,  but  was  begged  off 
by  friends.  I  have  not  heard  from  Mr.  Kellogg  for 
many  years  and  do  not  know  whether  he  is  dead  or 
alive,  but  if  he  is  alive  and  should  read  this  statement 
he  will,  I  think  admit  its  truthfulness,  May  20,  1893. 

Since  the  above  was  written  I  have  been  reliably 
informed  that  Mr.  Kellogg's  death  occurred  about  two 
years  ago,  and  that  he  removed  to  Keytesville,  the 
county  seat  of  Chariton  County,  Mo.,  where  he  lived 
since  the  war,  and  had  accumulated  quite  a  little 
fortune  and  was  up  to  the  date  of  his  death  a  staunch 
friend  to  the  colored  people,  who  greatly  lamented  his 
taking  off. 

He  held  the  position  of  county  treasurer  for  one  or 
more  terms,  and  regardless  of  politics,  received  almost 
the  unanimous  colored  vote,  he  being  a  democrat. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  93 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  national  election  of  i860,  created  more  excite- 
ment probably  than  any  that  had  preceded  it,  not 
excepting  the  "  Hard  Cider  Campaign  "  of  1840, 
because  greater  questions  and  issues  had  to  be  met  and 
settled.  The  North  was  opposed  to  the  extension, 
of  slavery,  in  fact  there  was  a  strong  sentiment  against 
its  existence,  while  the  South  wanted  more  territory  for 
its  extension;  then  there  was  a  spirit  of  disunion  exist- 
ing North  and  South.  The  abolitionists  of  the  North 
had  declared  the  National  Constitution  to  be  a  league 
with  hell,  while  the  extreme  southern  men  such  as  Bob 
Toombs  of  Georgia,  wanted  to  extend  slavery  to  every 
State  in  the  Union,  and  he  declared  in  a  speech  deliv- 
ered early  in  i86i,that  he  wanted  to  call  the  roll  of  his 
slaves  on  Bunker  Hill,  and  would  do  so  if  the  South 
was  successful. 

The  campaign  opened  early  in  July  that  year,  and 
kept  red  hot  until  the  ballots  were  in  the  box.  There 
was  speaking  once  or  twice  a  week  at  Brunswick,  and 
several  barbacues  in  different  parts  of  the  county.  I 
remember  attending  one  held  five  miles  north  of  town, 
which  appeared  to  be  a  joint  affair,  because  there  were 
speeches  made  in  the  interest  of  all  the  tickets  except 
the  Republican.  My  young  master  made  his  maiden 
effort  for  Bell  and  Everett,  as  I  now  remember. 

The  political  excitement  began  in  Missouri,  especi- 
ally in  Chariton  County,  when  the  National  Democratic 
Convention   met  at   Charleston,   S.  C,  April  23,  i860, 


94  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

and  after  spending  ten  days  wrangling  over  the  adop- 
tion of  the  platform,  adjourned  to  meet  at  Baltimore, 
Md.,  June  18,  i860,  without  making  a  nomination  for 
President.  I  might  state  that  the  main  fight  was  upon 
the  second  section  of  the  majority  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Resolutions.  The  report  reads  as  follows: 
Second,  "  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  Duty  of  the  Federal 
Government,  in  all  its  departments,  to  protect  when 
necessary  the  rights  of  persons  and  property  in  the  ter- 
ritories, and  wherever  else  its  constitutional  authority 
extends."  The  minority  report  which  was  substituted 
for  the  majority  by  a  vote  of  165  to  138,  reads  as  fol- 
lows: "Inasmuch  as  difference  of  opinion  exists  in  the 
Democratic  party,  as  to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the 
powers  of  a  territorial  legislature,  and  as  to  the  powers 
and  duties  of  Congress,  under  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  over  the  institution  of  slavery  within  the 
Territories,"  Second,  "  Resolved,  that  the  Democratic 
party  will  abide  by  the  questions  of  constitutional  law." 
After  that  vote  many  of  the  southern  delegates  with- 
drew from  the  Convention.  Missouri  stood  solid  in  the 
Douglas  column,  refusing  to  secede  with  the  other 
southern  States,  and  cast  her  vote  the  following 
November  for  him  for  President  and  Johnson  for  Vice 
President. 

If  we  stop  to  consider  a  moment,  the  fact  that  the 
Democratic  party  had  the  Supreme  Court  by  a  large 
majority  at  that  time,  we  must  arrive  at  the  conclusion, 
that  there  existed  no  valid  cause  for  the  split  in  its 
national  convention,  thus  dividing  its  strength  and  mak- 
ing it  possible  for  the  Republicans  to  elect  their  candi- 
date; for  it  is  generally  believed  that  if  there  had  been 
no  split,  Stephen  A   Douglas  would  have  been  elected 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  95 

President  and  served  his  party  as  a  good  Democrat,  for 
he  owned  a  large  plantation  in  the  South,  and  the  inter- 
est of  the  South  would  have  been  his  as  well.  But  it 
has  always  seemed  to  me  that  there  was  a  higher 
power  shaping  matters  and  things  at  that  time,  which 
was  irresistible.  Hatred  existed  among  Democrats 
North  and  South  to  such  an  extent,  that  southern 
Democrats  denounced  their  northern  brothers  as 
"  doughfaces  "  and  cowards,  which  had  the  effect  of 
driving  many  of  them  to  vote  the  Republican  ticket  at 
the  ensuing  presidental  election. 

The  extreme  southern  delegates  who  seceded  from 
the  National  Convention,  met  and  nominated  Tohn  C. 
Breckinridge  of  Kentucky,  for  President,  and  Joseph 
Lane  of  Oregon,  for  Vice-President.  From  the  day 
the  campaign  opened  in  the  State  of  Missouri,  especi- 
ally in  Chariton  County,  the  two  factions  of  the  Demo- 
cratic party  were  very  bitter  towards  each  other,  and 
this  condition  of  things  existed  up  to  and  including  the 
day  of  election,  but  when  it  was  known  later  on  that 
Lincoln  was  elected,  all  differences  were  healed  and  the 
factions  came  together,  declaring  for  secession.  They 
were  joined  by  a  large  portion  of  the  old  line  Whigs, 
who  had  voted  for  Bell  and  Everett  at  the  last  election; 
but  there  were  a  few  who  remained  loyal  to  the  Union. 
It  is  a  wonder  to  me,  even  now,  that  they  did  so,  when 
I  recall  the  bulldozing,  the  taunts,  jeers  and  epithets 
hurled  against  them.  They  were  intensely  hated  and 
abused,  more  than  the  loyal  Germans  and  northern 
men  who  had  settled  in  that  county,  but  they  stood  it 
out  through  trials  and  tribulations,  remaining  loyal  to 
the  close  of  the  war. 

There    was    another    class    of  men    who  suffered 


96  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

severely  during  the  war,  known  as  "  Neutrals,"  assist- 
ing neither  side,  but  who  were  accused  of  aiding  both 
and  therefore  hated  by  both. 

During  the  years  of  i  860  and  i86t,  the  slaves  had 
to  keep  very  mum  and  always  on  their  masters'  land, 
because  patrols  were  put  out  in  every  township  with 
authority  to  punish  slaves  with  the  lash,  if  found  off 
their  masters'  premises  after  dark  without  a  written 
pass  from  them.  Patrol  duty  was  always  performed  by 
the  poor  whites,  who  took  great  pride  in  the  whipping 
of  a  slave,  just  as  they  do  now  in  lynching  a  Negro. 
They  whipped  some  slaves  so  unmercifully  that  their 
masters'  attention  was  called  to  it,  so  that  they  met  and 
issued  an  order  to  patrols,  that  in  punishing  a  slave 
captured  no  skin  should  be  broken  nor  blood  brought 
out  by  the  lash.  There  being  no  positive  law  of  patrol- 
ling, it  having  existed  as  a  custom  to  please  a  few  mean 
slave  holders,  many  men  whose  names  I  can  give, 
would  not  submit  to  it,  and  threatened  to  punish  any 
man  or  set  of  men  interfering  in  any  way  with  their 
slaves,  although  found  off  their  lands.  Of  course  the 
patrols  carefully  avoided  such  men's  slaves  wherever 
seen. 

I  have  heard  of  many  jokes  played  on  these 
patrols  by  slaves,  tending  to  show  how  easy  it  was  to 
fool  them,  because  they  were  as  a  rule  illiterate,  and 
of  course  could  not  read  writing.  The  slaves  know- 
ing this  would  take  a  portion  of  a  letter  picked  up  and 
palm  it  off  on  them  as  a  pass  when  arrested.  The 
captain  would  take  it,  look  it  over  wisely,  then  hand  it 
telling  the  slave  to  go.  Others  would  secure  a*  pass 
from  their  master,  get  some  one  who  could  read  writ- 
ing to  erase  the  day  and  month,  then  use  it  indefinitely, 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  97 

while  others  would  get  their  young  master  or  mistress 
to  write  them  a  pass  whenever  they  wanted  to  go  out, 
signing  their  father's  name. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  clearly  understand 
why  slaves  had  to  resort  to  so  many  tricks  to  get  a 
pass,  I  will  state  that  masters  objected  to  giving  passes 
often,  upon  the  ground  that  they  wanted  the  slave  to 
stay  at  home  and  take  his  rest  which  he  could  not  get 
if  out  often  after  dark. 

In  the  fall  of  1859  there  was  a  dance  given  at  Col. 
Ewing's  farm,  to  which  several  young  men  and  girls 
were  invited  and  attended;  most  of  them  had  passes 
except  four  girls,  who  had  failed  to  secure  them.  The 
patrols  came  about  twelve  o'clock  that  night  and  sur- 
rounded the  house,  allowing  those  having  passes  to  go 
free,  and  were  preparing  to  whip  the  four  girls  who  had 
none,  right  th^re  in  the  presence  of  their  beaux,  who 
were  powerless  to  protect  them,  when  a  young  fellow, 
whose  name  was  Lindsay  Watts,  came  up  and  said,. 
"  Lor,  massas,  it  am  a  great  pity  to  whip  dese  sweet 
angels,  'deed  'tis;  if  you  will  let  dem  go,  I  will  take  the 
whippin'  for  dem  all."  Hi?  proposition  was  accepted, 
and  the  girls  turned  loose  made  rapid  steps  to  their 
homes.  The  patrols  took  Lindsay  outside  of  the  yard, 
and  stripped  him  naked,  preparatory  to  giving  him  four 
times  nine  and  thirty  lashes,  but  being  naked  and  hard 
to  hold  or  grab,  he  escaped  and  ran  home  to  his  mas- 
ter in  that  condition,  followed  closely  by  the  patrols. 
But  his  master  protected  him.  The  girls  who  barely 
escaped  a  lashing  reached  home  safely  and  thankfully. 

I  remember  another  ball  given  a  Day's  Mill,  near 
Brunswick,  early  in  1 861,  which  I  attended,  and  left 
about  eleven  o'clock  that  night.     Later,  a   man   named 


98  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

Price,  without  law  or  authority,  as  he  lived  in  the  city 
and  was  not  an  officer  thereof,  gathered  a  squad  of 
roughs  and  went  to  the  Mill  and  surrounded  the  ball- 
room. They  ordered  all  who  had  passes  to  come  for- 
ward, and  they  were  allowed  to  go  free.  There  were 
five  men  and  one  girl  without  a  pass  left  in  the  room. 
The  white  men  stood  in  the  doorway,  intending  to  whip 
each  Negro  and  pass  him  out.  They  had  given  the 
order  for  each  one  to  take  off  his  shirt.  There  was  a 
fellow  whose  name,  for  prudential  reasons,  I  will  call 
John  Smith,  who  got  a  shovel  and  threw  fire  coals,  one 
shovelful  after  another,  at  the  patrols.  The  lights  had 
been  extinguished;  some  of  them  got  burnt  in  the  face 
and  neck  badly,  while  others  got  clothing  burnt.  This 
cleared  the  way,  and  the  Negroes,  even  the  woman, 
escaped.  They  never  found  the  man  who  threw  the 
fire.  I  remember  that  they  offered  a  reward  to  other 
slaves  to  betray  the  one  who  threw  it. 

About  the  winter  of  1858,  the  Colored  people  gave 
a  dance,  to  which  many  of  the  young  people  were  in- 
vited and  attended,  and  were  enjoying  themselves  to 
their  hearts'  content,  when,  about  twelve  o'clock,  a 
squad  of  patrols  appeared  and  surrounded  the  ball- 
room. Those  having  passes  were  not  disturbed,  but 
those  without  were  arrested  and  taken  out  for  punish- 
ment, which  numbered  five,  and  of  these  only  two  were 
whipped;  the  other  three  resisted,  and  in  the  scuffle 
got  loose  and  ran. 

There  was  at  that  time  a  poor  white  man  at  the 
head  of  the  city  patrols,  named  Brawner,  whose  juris- 
diction covered  the  city  limits  only,  and  he  had  no  legal 
rights  as  patrol  outside  of  it.  But  the  desire  of  this 
poor  white  man  to   whip  a  slave  was  so  great,  that  he 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  99 

left  his  post  of  duty,  gathered  secretly  a  squad  of  men 
of  his  ilk,  went  two  miles  into  the  country,  and  that, 
too,  without  the  knowledge  or  consent  of  the  city  offi- 
cers, for  they  knew  nothing  of  it  until  next  day.  Now  * 
comes  the  worst  part  of  it;  when  they  had  finished  their 
hellishness,  they  returned  to  the  city  to  find  it  on  fire  in 
several  places,  and  as  a  result,  several  frame  buildings 
in  different  portions  of  the  city  were  destroyed  by  fire. 
Many  efforts  were  made  to  detect  the  incendiary,  but 
in  vain,  and  the  blame  for  the  fire  fell  upon  the  Chief  of 
Patrolmen,  Brawner,  who  was,  I  think,  promptly  dis- 
missed. I  write  of  this  matter  without  the  fear  of  con- 
tradiction, because  I  am  sure  that  there  are  men  now 
living,  white  and  black,  who  will  corroborate  my  state- 
ment. 

Slaves  were  much  truer  to  one  another  in  those 
days  than  they  have  been  since  made  free,  and  I  am 
unable  to  assign  any  reason  for  it,  yet  it  is  a  fact,  never- 
theless, and  as  further  proof  of  it,  I  will  state,  that  they 
would  listen  carefully  to  what  they  heard  their  owners 
say  while  talking  to  each  other  on  political  matters,  or 
about  the  fault  of  another  slave,  and  as  soon  as  oppor- 
tunity would  admit,  go  to  the  quarters  and  warn  the 
slave  of  his  danger,  and  tell  what  they  had  heard  the 
master  say  about  the  politics  of  the  country. 

The  Colored  people  could  meet  and  talk  over  what 
they  had  heard  about  the  latest  battle,  and  what  Mr. 
Lincoln  had  said,  and  the  chances  of  their  freedom,  for 
they  understood  the  war  to  be  for  their  freedom  solely, 
and  prayed  earnestly  and  often  for  the  success  of  the 
Union  cause.  When  the  news  came  that  a  battle  was 
fought  and  won  by  Union  troops,  they  rejoiced,  and 
were  correspondingly  depressed   when   they  saw  their 


100  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

masters  rejoicing,  for  they  knew  the  cause  thereof.  As 
I  have  stated  before,  slaves  who  could  read  and  could 
buy  newspapers,  thereby  obtained  the  latest  news  and 
kept  their  friends  posted,  and  from  mouth  to  ear  the 
news  was  carried  from  farm  to  farm,  without  the 
knowledge  of  masters.  There  were  no  Judases  among 
them  during  those  exciting  times. 

After  the  war  had  commenced,  about  the  spring  of 
1862,  and  troops  of  both  sides  were  often  passing 
through  that  county,  it  was  not  safe  for  patrols  to  be 
out  hunting  Negroes,  and  the  system  came  to  an  end, 
never  to  be  revived.  The  regular  confederate  troops 
raised  in  that  and  adjoining  counties  went  South  as  fast 
as  recruited,  so  that  only  bushwhackers  remained,  and 
they  were  a  source  of  annoyance  to  Union  men  and 
Union  troops  of  that  county  up  to  the  fall  and  wi.iter  of 
1864,  when  they  were  effectually  cleaned  out.  Many 
of  these  men  claimed  to  be  loyal,  especially  so  in  public 
and  at  their  homes  in  the  day  time,  in  order  to  be  pro- 
tected, while  at  heart  they  were  disloyal,  aiding  bush- 
whackers not  only  with  ammunition,  rations,  and  infor- 
mation as  to  when  and  where  Union  troops  would  pass, 
but  with  their  presence  at  night  on  the  roadside,  shoot- 
ing at  Union  citizens  and  soldiers  while  passing.  They 
would  select  some  safe  spot  where  a  returned  fire 
would  not  reach  them. 

The  spirit  of  secession  was  almost  as  strong  in  that 
county  in  1861,  as  it  was  in  South  Carolina,  and  when 
Fort  Sumter  was  fired  upon,  Col.  Pugh  Price,  of  Bruns- 
wick, hung  out  the  confederate  flag,  and  called  for  vol- 
unteers. There  were  two  companies  raised  who  went 
South,  one  of  which  was  commanded  by  Capt.  J.  W. 
Price.     That  county  furnished  its  full  share  to  the  con- 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  IOI 

federate  army,  composed  largely  of  the  best  blood,  men 
who  were  willing  to  shoot  and  be  shot  at  in  the  open 
field  of  battle. 

There  was  a  man  named  James  Long,  a  plasterer 
by  trade,  who  was  a  noisy  fellow,  and  who  cast  the 
only  vote  Lincoln  received  in  that  county.  When 
called  upon  to  give  his  reasons  for  so  doing,  he  stated 
that  he  did  it  for  fun;  he  then  and  there  cursed  Lincoln 
in  language  quite  strong,  and  said  that  he  ought  to  be 
assassinated.  A  year  later,  a  loyal  man  had  to  be  ap- 
pointed postmaster  at  Brunswick,  and  then  this  man 
Long  came  forward  as  the  only  original  Lincoln  man, 
stating  that  his  vote  represented  his  sentiments,  and 
that  his  former  denial  was  caused  by  intimidation.  He 
got  the  appointment,  and  in  a  year  or  two  was  arrested, 
tried,  convicted  and  sentenced  to  the  penitentiary  for 
misappropriation  of  government  money.  But  the 
secessionists  lost  a  friend  in  him,  because  it  was  believed 
by  Union  men  that  he  was  not  of  them,  and  it  was 
charged  that  he  aided  the  rebels  in  every  way  possible, 
even  to  rifling  Union  men's  letters,  and  giving  their 
contents  to  rebels. 

But  this  man's  downfall  was  a  blessing  to  some 
extent,  to  the  Colored  people  who  received  mail 
through  that  office,  for  he  would  not  give  them  their 
mail,  but  held  it  and  delivered  it  to  their  masters  Our 
family  had  no  trouble  in  this  respect,  for  our  master 
would  bring  our  letters  unopened  and  deliver  them 
without  question.  I  remember  getting  one  from  my 
brother,  B.  K.  Bruce,  who  was  in  Lawrence,  Kan.,  at 
the  time  of  the  Quantrell  raid,  in  1863,  which  he  brought 
from  town,  and  waited  to  hear  how  B.  K.  Bruce  escaped 
being  killed  in  the  Lawrence  massacre. 


102  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

From  1862  to  the  close  of  the  war,  slave  property 
in  the  state  of  Missouri  was  almost  a  dead  weight  to  the 
owner;  he  could  not  sell  because  there  were  no  buyers. 
The  business  of  the  Negro  trader  was  at  an  end,  due 
to  the  want  of  a  market.  He  could  not  get  through 
the  Union  lines  South  with  his  property,  that  being  his 
market.  There  was  a  man  named  White,  usually 
called  "  Negro-trader  White,"  who  travelled  over  the 
state,  buying  Negroes  like  mules  for  the  southern  mar- 
ket, and  when  he  had  secured  a  hundred  or  more,  he 
would  take  them,  handcuffed  together,  to  the  South. 
He  or  his  agents  attended  all  sales  where  Negroes 
were  to  be  sold  without  conditions.  The  sentiment 
against  selling  Negroes  to  traders  was  quite  strong, 
and  there  were  many  who  would  not  sell  at  all,  unless 
forced  by  circumstances  over  which  they  had  no  con- 
trol, and  would  cry  with  the  Negroes  at  parting.  A 
Negro  sold  to  a  trader  would  bring  from  one  to  three 
hundred  dollars  more  money. 

I  recall  a  case  where  a  master  was  on  a  note  as 
surety,  and  had  the  same,  which  was  a  large  sum,  to 
pay  at  maturity,  and  to  do  so  he  was  forced  to  sell  a 
young  girl  to  raise  the  cash.  He  sent  for  Negro-trader 
White,  and  the  sale  was  made  in  the  city  without  his 
wife's  knowledge,  but  when  he  attempted  to  deliver 
her,  his  wife  and  children  clung  to  the  girl  and  would 
not  let  her  go.  When  White  saw  he  could  not  get  his 
Negro,  he  demanded  a  return  of  his  money,  which  the 
seller  had  applied  on  the  note  and  could  not  get  back. 
The  matter  was  finally  settled  in  some  way;  at  any 
rate  the  girl  was  not  sold,  and  was  in  that  county  until 
1864. 

The  Negro  trader  usually  bought  all  Negroes  who 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  IO3 

had  committed  murder  or  other  crimes,  for  which  pub- 
lic whipping  was  not  considered  sufficient  punishment. 
Slaves  usually  got  scared  when  it  became  known  that 
Negro-trader  White  was  in  the  community.  The 
owners  used  White's  name  as  a  threat  to  scare  the 
Negroes  when  they  had  violated  some  rule.  "  I'll  sell 
you  to  the  Negro  trader,  if  you  don't  do-  better"  was 
often  as  good  or  better  punishment  than  the  lash,  for 
the  slave  dreaded  being  sold  South,  worse  than  the  Rus-  U 
sians  do  banishment  to  Siberia. 

Excitement,  such  as  I  had  never  seen,  existed  not 
alone  with  the  white  people,  but  with  the  slaves  as 
well.  Work,  such  as  had  usually  been  performed, 
almost  ceased;  slaves  worked  as  they  pleased,  and 
their  masters  were  powerless  to  force  them,  due  largely 
to  the  fact  that  the  white  people  were  divided  in  senti- 
ment. Those  who  remained  loyal  advised  the  slaves 
who  belonged  to  those  called  disloyal,  not  to  work  for 
men  who  had  gone  or  sent  their  sons  South,  to  fight 
against  the  government.  Slaves  believed,  deep  down 
in  their  souls,  that  the  government  was  fighting  for 
their  freedom,  and  it  was  useless  for  masters  to  tell 
them  differently.  They  would  leave  home  in  search  of 
work,  and  usually  found  it,  with  small  pay,  with  some 
Union  man,  and  often  without  pay  for  weeks  at  a  time, 
but  his  master  had  to  clothe  him  as  he  had  always  done, 
and  in  some  cases  pay  his  own  slave  for  his  work. 

Near  the  close  of  1863,  the  Union  men  were  on 
top,  and  the  disloyal  or  southern  sympathizer  had  to 
submit  to  everything.  The  lower  class  of  so-cilled 
Union  men  almost  openly  robbed  rebel  sympathizers 
by  going  to  their  farms,  dressed  and  armed  as  soldiers, 
taking  such  stock  as  they  wanted,  which  the  owner  was 


104  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

powerless  to  prevent;  in  fact  he  would  have  been 
killed  had  he  attempted  it.  The  period  had  been 
reached  when  the  master  found  his  slave  to  be  his  best 
and  truest  friend,  because  it  often  happened  that  he  was 
forced  for  self-protection  to  hide  his  valuables  from 
these  prowlers,  and  knowing  that  their  quarters  would 
not  be  invaded,  he  placed  his  precious  property  in  their 
hands  for  safe  keeping. 

I  remained  on  our  farm,  managing  it  as  I  had  done 
in  past  years,  but  I  saw  that  the  time  had  about  come 
when  I  could  do  so  no  longer.  I  saw  men,  whose 
names  I  could  state,  take  from  our  farm  hogs,  cattle, 
and  horses  without  permission  and  without  paying  for 
them,  under  the  pretence  that  it  was  a  military  neces- 
sity. Of  course  no  such  necessity  existed,  and  the 
government  received  no  benefit  therefrom. 

I  remember  that  W.  B  Bruce  owned  a  fine  lot  of 
horses  and  cattle  in  1862,  but  by  March,  1864,  they  had 
all  or  nearly  all  been  taken,  without  his  consent,  and 
often  withDut  his  knowledge.  I  speak  of  only  two 
cases  of  th's  kind,  because  I  have  personal  knowledge 
of  them.  After  the  war,  many  of  these  men  who  had 
lost  their  property,  other  than  slaves,  presented  claims 
against  the  government  f  :>r  property  supposed  to  have 
been  confiscated  or  appropriated  tj  the  use  of  Uncle 
Sam,  and  these  claiments  were  honest  in  th eir  belief 
that  their  property  was  so  taken,  when,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  it  was  taken  by  thieves,  dressed  in  uniform  for  the 
purpose  of  deception,  men  who  were  not  in  the  Union 
army,  and  the  stolen  property  was  used  for  their  own 
personal  benefit.  W.  B.  Bruce  is  now  living  and  can, 
if  he  will,  testify  to  the  truthfulness  of  what  I  state  here. 

The  Germans  were  all  Union  men,  and  on  that  ac- 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  IO5 

count  had  suffered  severely  at  the  hands  of  the  bush- 
whackers from  the  beginning  of  the  war  to  January, 
1864,  after  which  time  they  were  as  secure  as  any  other 
class,  and  finally  became  the  leaders  on  the  Union  side. 
W.  B.  Bruce  and  my  owner  joined  their  fortunes  with 
the  men  of  the  South,  and  lost  all  they  had  contributed. 
Agents  stole  through  the  lines  from  the  South,  author- 
ized to  recruit  men  and  receive  money  donations. 
They  told  wonderful  stories  about  thi  confederacy,  its 
success,  what  it  would  do,  etc  ;  that  they  needed 
money  and  men,  and  in  a  very  short  time  the  war 
would  be  over,  and  the  South  would  be  on  top. 

I  remember  a  young  man  named  Kennedy,  raised 
in  Brunswick,  and  enlisted  as  a  private  in  1861,  who 
went  South  in  a  Missouri  rebel  regiment.  He  came 
back  in  the  fall  of  1863  with  the  rank  of  Colonel,  au- 
thorized to  raise  men  and  money  for  the  southern  con- 
federacy. He  was  hiding  around  Brunswick  and 
vicinity  for  a  long  time,  and  left  without  the  Unionists 
knowing  he  had  been  there.  Many  southern  sympa- 
thizers contributed  money  to  the  cause,  which  they 
have  had  dire  need  for  since,  and  I  believe  my  master 
and  W.  B.  Bruce  were  among  the  victims. 

I  had  several  talks  with  my  young  master,  W.  E. 
Perkinson,  in  1862,  on  the  subject  of  loyalty.  He 
wanted  to  join  Col.  Moberly's  company  of  State  militia, 
and  if  left  to  his  choice,  would  have  done  so,  but  he  was 
so  bitterly  opposed  by  his  fath.r  and  uncle,  that  he  fin- 
ally went  South  and  served  to  the  day  of  surrender, 
came  home  penniless,  and  with  health  gone.  I  am  sat- 
isfied that  he  has  sincerely  regretted  his  action  ever 
since,  because  he  found  young  men,  who  were  not  his 
equals  in   ability  and  standing,  but  who   had  taken  the 


106  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

Union  side,  occupying  important  positions  in  the  city, 
county  and  state,  while  he  was  disfranchised  and  did  not 
get  his  disabilities  removed  for  many  years.  He  had 
been  reared  in  the  lap  of  luxury,  graduated  from  col- 
lege, then  had  studied  law,  and  never  earned  a  dollar 
to  defray  expenses;  and  he  returned  to  find  his  father 
dead,  his  Negroes  freed,  and  stock  stolen,  but  the  land 
was  there,  and  that  alone  constituted  his  earthly  pos- 
session. I  was  his  playmate  and  nurse  in  childhood, 
though  but  a  few  years  older,  and  always  liked  him;  we 
never  had  any  harsh  words  at  any  time,  even  after  he 
had  become  a  man.  I  have  been  informed  that  he  has 
succeeded  as  a  lawyer  and  judge  on  the  bench. 

There  were  a  few  poor  whites  who  failed  to  iden- 
tify themselves  with  either  side,  and  of  course  did  not 
enlist  in  either  army;  they  were  anything  to  suit  pres- 
ent company.  Near  the  close  of  the  winter  of  1863-4 
the  Union  side  seemed  to  be  getting  on  top,  had  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  stationed  at  Brunswick,  had  rid  the 
county  of  bushwhackers  and  rebel  soldiers,  and  these 
fellows  who  had  been  on  the  fence  for  two  years  now 
openly  declared  for  the  Union. 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  107 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  enlistment  of  Colored  men  for  the  army  com- 
menced in  Chariton  County,  Missouri,  early  in  Decem- 
ber, 1863,  and  any  slave  man  who  desired  to  be  a 
soldier  and  fight  for  freedom,  had  an  opportunity  to  do 
so.  Certain  men  said  to  be  recruiting  officers  from 
Iowa,  came  to  Brunswick,  to  enlist  Colored  men  for  the 
United  States  Army,  who  were  to  be  accredited  not  to 
Missouri,  but  to  certain  townships  in  Iowa,  in  order  to 
avoid  a  draft  there.  I  am  unable  to  state  the  number 
of  Colored  men  who  enlisted  in  that  county  during  the 
period  from  December,  1863,  until  the  close  of  enlist- 
ments in  the  spring  of  1865,  but  I  am  sure  it  was  large. 
I  had  some  trouble  with  these  enlisted  men,  which  was 
as  follows:  Being  in  the  United  States  service  them- 
selves, they  thought  it  no  more  than  right  to  press  in 
every  young  man  they  could  find.  Being  secretly  aided 
by  these  white  officers,  who,  I  learned  afterwards, 
received  a  certain  sum  of  money  for  each  recruit  raised 
and  accredited  as  above  described.  These  Colored 
men  scoured  the  county  in  search  of  young  men  for 
soldiers,  causing  me  to  sleep  out  of  nights  and  hide  from 
them  in  the  daytime.  I  was  afraid  to  go  to  town  while 
they  were  there,  and  greatly  relieved  when  a  company 
was  filled  out  and  left  for  some  point  in  Iowa. 

Our  owner  did  not  want  us  to  leave  him  and  used 
every  persuasive  means  possible  to  prevent  it.  He 
gave  every  grown  person  a  free  pass,  and  agreed  to 
give    me    fifteen    dollars    per    month,  with   board    and 


108  SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT. 

clothing,  if  I  would  remain  with  him  on  the  farm,  an 
offer  which  I  had  accepted  to  take  effect  January  I, 
1864.  But  by  March  of  that  year,  I  saw  that  it  could 
not  be  carried  out,  and  concluded  to  go  to  Kansas.  I 
might  have  remained  and  induced  others  to  do  so  and 
made  the  crop,  which  would  have  been  of  little  benefit 
to  him,  as  it  would  have  been  spirited  away.  I  made 
the  agreement  in  good  faith,  but  when  I  saw  that  it 
could  not  be  fulfilled  I  had  not  the  courage  to  tell  him 
that  I  was  going  to  leave  him. 

I  was  engaged  to  marry  a  girl  belonging  to  a  man 
named  Allen  Farmer,  who  was  opposed  to  it  on  the 
ground,  as  I  was  afterwards  informed,  that  he  did  not 
want  a  Negro  to  visit  his  farm  who  could  read,  because 
he  would  spoil  his  slaves.  After  it  was  known  that  I 
was  courting  the  girl,  he  would  not  allow  me  to  visit 
his  farm  nor  any  of  his  slaves  to  visit  ours,  but  they  did 
visit  notwithstanding  this  order,  nearly  every  Sunday. 
The  girl's  aunt  was  our  mutual  friend  and  made  all 
arrangements  for  our  meetings.  At  one  of  our  secret 
meetings  we  decided  to  elope  and  fixed  March  30,  1864, 
at  nine  o'clock,  p.  m.,  sharp,  as  the  date  for  starting. 

She  met  me  at  the  appointed  time  and  place  with  her 
entire  worldly  effects  tied  up  in  a  handkerchief,  and  I 
took  her  up  on  the  horse  behind  me.  Then  in  great 
haste  we  started  for  Laclede,  about  thirty  miles  north 
of  Brunswick,  and  the  nearest  point  reached  by  the 
Hannibal  and  St.  Joe  Railroad.  This  town  was 'occu- 
pied by  a  squad  of  Union  Troops,  Having  traveled 
over  that  country  so  often,  I  had  acquired  an  almost 
perfect  knowledge  of  it,  even  of  the  by-paths.  We 
avoided  the  main  road,  and  made  the  entire  trip  with- 
out touching  the  traveled  road  at  any  point  and  without 


SLAVERY    AS    I    SAW    IT.  IO9 

meeting  any  one  and  reached  Laclede  in  safety,  where 
we  took  the  train  for  St.  Joe,  thence  to  Weston,  where 
we  crossed  the  Missouri  River  on  a  ferry  boat  to  Fort 
Leavenworth,  Kansas.     I  then  felt  myself  a  free  man. 

I  learned  soon  afterwards  that  Jesse  Boram,  Allen 
Farmer  and  as  many  other  men  as  could  be  hastily  got- 
ten together  started  in  pursuit  of  us,  following  every 
road  we  were  supposed  to  take,  and  went  within  six 
miles  of  Laclede,  hoping  to  overtake  us.  Of  course 
they  would  have  ended  my  earthly  career  then  and 
there,  could  they  have  found  me  that  night.  But  I  had 
carefully  weighed  the  cost  before  starting,  had  nerved 
myself  for  action  and  would  have  sold  my  life  very 
dearly  had  they  overtaken  us  in  our  flight.  How  could 
I  have  done  otherwise  in  the  presence  of  the  girl  I 
loved,  one  who  had  forsaken  mother,  sister  and  broth- 
ers, and  had  placed  herself  entirely  under  my  care  and 
protection. 

I  am  satisfied,  even  now,  that  I  was  braver  that 
night  than  I  have  ever  been  since.  I  was  a  good  shot 
and  knew  it,  and  intended  to  commence  shooting  as 
soon  as  my  pursuers  showed  up;  but  it  was  a  Godsend 
to  all  concerned,  and  especially  to  myself  and  bride, 
soon  to  be,  that  we  were  not  overtaken;  for  I  was 
determined  to  fight  it  out  on  that  line,  as  surrender 
meant  death  to  me.  I  had  buckled  around  my 
waist  a  pair  of  Colt's  revolvers  and  plenty  of  ammu- 
nition, but  I  feel  now  that  I  could  not  have  held  out 
long  before  a  crowd  of  such  men,  and  while  I  might 
have  hit  one  or  two  of  them,  they  would  in  the  end 
have  killed  me. 

My  bravery,  if  that  was  what  affected  me,  was  not 
of  the   kind  that  will  not  shun  danger,  for  I  resorted  to 


IIO  SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT. 

every  scheme  possible  to  avoid  it.  We  had  the  start 
of  our  pursuers  about  an  hour,  or  in  other  words  the 
girl  was  missed  from  her  room  in  that  time;  then  it 
took  probably  another  hour  to  get  the  men  together. 
But  they  stood  a  very  poor  show  to  capture  us  on  the 
main  road,  for  we  left  it  after  the  first  half  mile  and 
took  to  the  brush  and  by-paths.  They  expected  to 
overtake  us  on  the  main  road,  where  they  would  have 
killed  me,  taken  the  girl  back  and  given  her  a  severe 
flogging,  but  they  were  badly  fooled,  for  we  traveled 
east,  nearly  on  a  straight  line  for  six  miles,  then  turned 
north,  the  correct  course  of  our  destination. 

I  had  heard  it  whispered  among  his  Colored  peo- 
ple, that  Mr.  Farmer's  house  was  a  kind  of 
rendezvous  for  the  bushwhachers  in  that  part  of  the 
country,  a  place  to  meet  to  secure  rations,  amunition 
and  information,  and  that,  occasionally,  he  went  out 
with  them  at  night.  If  it  be  true  that  he  acted  with 
brushwhackers,  then  I  assert  that  he  went  out  with 
them  just  once  too  often,  for  he  was  killed  as  such,  dur- 
ing the  Summer  of  1864,  while  on  the  run  after  being 
halted. 

As  already  stated  in  a  preceding  chapter,  I  had 
learned  to  read,  but  could  not  write.  Prior  to  leaving 
home  I  printed  with  pen  and  ink  a  note,  which  was 
pinned  to  the  bridle,  telling  a  friend  of-my  master,  who 
lived  within  four  miles  of  Laclede,  and  in  whose  front 
yard  I  tied  the  horse  about  daybreak,  to  whom  it 
belonged,  and  requesting  him  to  send  it  home  or  notify 
its  owner  to  come  for  it.  I  learned  afterwards  that  the 
horse,  "  Old  Fiddler,"  was  sent  home  the  next  day.  I 
did  not  want  to  be  called  a  horse  thief,  and  ever  after- 
wards be  afraid  to  visit  my  old  home,  friends  and 
relatives. 


SLAVERY   AS    I    SAW    IT.  Ill 

In  January,i865?  I  visited  my  old  master  and  found 
him  greatly  disheartened  and  hard  pressed.  He  told 
me  that  he  wished  I  had  kept  the  horse  for  he  would 
have  been  better  satisfied,  as  it  had  been  taken  from 
him  by  the  thieves,  dressed  for  self-protection  in  the 
uniform  of  Uncle  Sam.  He  had  but  one  horse  on  the 
farm  at  the  time  of  my  visit,  and  offerred  that  to  me  as 
a  gift,  knowing  that  it  was  only  a  matter  of  time,  when 
it,  too,  would  be  stolen.  I  did  not  accept  the  gift  and 
was  sorry  that  I  did  not,  for  I  was  informed  by  letter 
that  three  armed  men  appeared  a  few  days  afterward 
and  took,  not  only  the  horse,  but  a  wagon  load  of  corn 
to  feed  it. 


112  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 


CHAPTER  XL 

On  March  31,  1864,  I  landed  at  Leavenworth, 
Kansas,  with  my  intended  wife,  without  a  change  of 
clothing  and  with  only  five  dollars  in  cash,  two  of 
which  I  gave  Rev.  John  Turner,  Pastor  of  the  A.  M.  E. 
Church,  who  united  us  in  marriage  in  his  parlor  that 
day.  I  knew  a  friend  in  that  city,  who  came  from 
Brunswick,  Paul  Jones,  and  upon  inquiry  soon  found 
and  secured  room  and  board  with  him.  The  next  day 
I  was  out  hunting  for  work,  which  I  obtained  with  a 
brick  contractor,  at  two  dollars  and  seventy-five  cents 
per  day,  to  carry  a  mud-hod,  which  I  had  done  before; 
so  that  the  work  was  not  entirely  new,  nor  the  con- 
tractor a  stranger  to  me.  His  name  was  Amos  Fenn; 
he  had  worked  for  a  contractor  named  Hawkins,  who 
built  a  row  of  brick  buildings  at  Brunswick,  Mo.,  in  the 
Fall  of  1854,  where  I  worked  a  few  weeks,  and  when 
we  met  I  remembered  him  and  he  gave  me  a  job. 

For  the  first  few  weeks  I  was  well  pleased  with 
the  pay  I  received,  and  thought  I  would  soon  have 
plenty  of  money,  but  now  I  had  a  new  problem  to 
solve,  which  was  to  support  and  clothe  myself  and  a 
wife  and  pay  doctors'  bills,  which  was  something  new 
to  me.  I  had  never  been  trained  in  the  school  of  econ- 
omy, where  I  could  learn  the  art  of  self-support,  as 
my  master  had  always  attended  to  that  little  matter 
from  my  earliest  recollections.  Now  I  had  expenses  to 
meet  of  every  kind  The  necessaries  of  life  were  all 
very  high,  including  house  rent,  and  by  the  time  I  paid 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  I  1 3 

up  my  bills  on  Saturday  night,  I  found  my  week's  earn- 
ings well  nigh  gone;  this  was  the  case  right  along.  I 
also  found  that  I  had  to  make  my  own  bargains  for 
whatever  necessaries  we  needed,  and  to  provide  for  a 
rainy  day,  all  of  which  experiences  were  new  to  me, 
yes,  very  new,  and  were  a  source  of  annoyance  for  a 
long  time,  because  it  taxed  my  mind  each  day  to  pro- 
vide the  necessaries  for  the  next  week  and  from  week' 
to  week.  I  had  lived  to  be  twenty-eight  years  old,  and 
had  never  been  placed  in  a  position  where  I  had  occa- 
sion to  give  this  matter  a  single  thought,  for  the  reason 
that  my  master  had  it  to  attend  to,  as  before  stated. 

I  found  myself  almost  as  heirless  as  a  child,  so  far 
as  managing  and  providing  for  personal  welfare  and 
the  future  was  concerned,  and  although  I  had  been 
trained  to  work  from  a  child  and  had  acquired  almost  a 
perfect  knowledge  of  it,  together  with  a  will  and  ability 
to  perform  hard  manual  labor,  yet  I  had  not  learned  the 
art  of  spending  my  earnings  to  the  best  advantage.  I 
had  a  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  value  of  any  arti- 
cle, and  often  paid  the  price  demanded  without  ques- 
tion, and  ofttimes  bought  articles  which  were  useless  to 
me.  My  wife  and  I  had  good  health  and  worked 
steadily  every  day,  and  by  so  doing  managed  to  save  up 
money  enough  in  a  short  time  to  rent  and  fit  up  a  small 
two-room  house. 

Continuing  to  enjoy  good  health  and  obtaining 
steady  work,  we  had  saved  enough  money  within  two 
years  to  buy  the  house  and  lot,  paying  nearly  two-thirds 
cash  therefor.  I  felt  proud,  being  then  for  the  first 
time  in  my  life-  a  land-owner,  but  it  was  of  short  dura- 
tion. I  had  relied  upon  the  word  of  a  white  man,  and 
had    paid    him    the    amount    agreed    upon,    and    had 


114  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

received  what  I  had  supposed  to  be  a  clear  title  to  the 
land,  but  it  turned  out  soon  afterwards,  that  the  man 
owned  only  the  house,  and  the  land  upon  which  it 
stood  was  the  property  of  another,  who  notified  me  to 
pay  rent  for  the  land  or  move  my  house  away 

I  found  the  white  men  of  Kansas  quite  different 
from  those  of  Missouri,  in  their  dealings  with  Colored 
people  or  ex-slaves.  They  would  talk  and  act  nicely 
and  politely,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  my  confi- 
dence; always  referring  to  my  former  condition  and 
abusing  pro-slavery  men,  pretending  great  friendship 
for  me,  and  by  so  doing  they  ingratiated  themselves 
into  my  confidence  to  such  an  extent,  that  I  would  fol- 
low their  advice  in  the  purchase  of  what  they  had  to 
sell.  Of  course  I  believed  what  they  told  me  and  was 
often  cheated  out  of  my  hard  earnings 

I  had  been  reared  where  it  was  a  crime  for  me  to 
dispute  a  white  man's  word,  and  that  idea  was  so  well 
and  thoroughly  grounded  in  me  that  it  took  time  and 
great  effort  to  eradicate  it.  It  took  me  a  long  time  to 
learn  that  a  white  man  would  lie  as  quickly  as  a  black 
one,  and  there  are  thousands  of  illiterate  ex-slaves  now 
living  who  have  not  entirtly  dismissed  that  idea,  that  a 
white  man  can  not  lie,  drilled  into  them  from  early 
childhood,  for  I  have  found  this  true  in  dealing  with 
them. 

Let  any  ex-slave,  uneducated,  wanting  informa- 
tion come  to  an  educated  colored  man  for  it,  and 
obtain  it,  he  will  not  be  really  satisfied  until  he  lays  the 
matter  before  some  white  man,  and  if  approved,  then  it 
is  allright,  but  if  condemned  then  the  white  man's  opin- 
ion is  accepted  and  the  other  rejected;  this  holds  good 
to-day,  and  in  my  opinion   is  one  of  the  results  of  slav- 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 1 5 

ery,  which  I  can  only  explain  by  stating  that  slave- 
holders considered  it  very  low  to  lie  to  a  slave,  and 
would  not  do  it  under  any  circumstances,  and  had  great 
contempt  for  another  one  who  would  purposely  do  so. 
I  have  known  them  to  refuse  to  answer  questions  rather 
than  tell  a  lie,  when  they  could  not  afford  to  tell  the 
truth.  Many  times  the  slave  has  wished  that  his  master 
would  lie,  when  he  has  told  him  that  at  a  certain  hour 
or  upon  a  certain  day  he  would  punish  him;  for  he 
knew  he  would  get  the  promised  flogging  almost  as 
surely  as  the  day  came.  Sometimes  he  would  be  told, 
"  I  am  doing  this  only  to  keep  my  word."  My  own 
personal  experience  is,  thai"  in  dealing  with  slaves  the 
master  was  perfectly  honorable  and  truthful,  and  would 
not  cheat  or  practice  deception  in  any  way  with  them, 
and  the  slave  knew  that  the  master  would  not  lie  and 
therefore  believed  what  he  said. 

I  found  by  sad  experience  that  the  white  men  in  a 
free  state,  especially  in  business  transactions,  were  not 
as  truthful  as  the  slave-holders  of  Missouri,  in  dealing 
with  colored  people,  a  fact  to  which  many  colored  men 
in  Leavenworth  and  Atchison,  Kansas,  can  testify,  men 
like  myself  who  have  been  deceived  into  buying  a  lot, 
and  who,  in  installments  had  paid  the  entire  price 
agreed  upon.  After  having  built  a  house  thereon,  in  a 
few  years  they  found  that  the  land  was  owned  by  some 
one  else. 

I  could  give  the  names  of  several  colored  men  in 
the  cities  named  above,  who  lost  their  property  in  that 
way,  and  who  were  forced  to  vacate  or  pay  a  higher 
price  for  the  land  than  at  first.  Men  from  the  South 
tell  me  that  that  class  of  white  men  in  that  section,  who 
were    almost  the   soul   of  honor,    in   dealing   with   the 


Il6  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

colored  people,  is  fast  dying  out,  and  the  young  men 
taking  their  places  will  lie  to  and  cheat  the  ex-slave  of 
his  earnings  right  along,  and  do  not  display  the  honor 
of  their  fathers  in  such  dealings. 

I  am  unable  to  vouch  for  the  truthfulness  of  this 
statement,  not  having  lived  in  the  South  and  therefore 
having  no  personal  knowledge  on  that  point.  If  it  be 
true  that  the  young  men  of  the  South,  who  have  taken 
their  fathers'  places,  are  less  honorable,  less  reliable  in 
dealings  with  their  fathers'  ex-slaves,  cheating  and  by 
deception,  defrauding  them  of  their  earnings,  then  I 
assert  that  it  is  a  sad  reflection  upon  the  once  boasted 
chivalry  and  honor  of  the  southern  gentlemen,  the  men 
of  the  old  school.  But  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the 
class  of  men  in  the  South,  who  are  cheating  and  lying 
to  colored  people,  are  the  newcomers  and  oldtime  slave 
drivers  or  their  offspring,  who  were  always  the  enemies 
of  the  slave,  and  to  day  are  jealous  of  him  as  a  free 
man,  and  will  take  the  lead  in  any  matter  that  will  mili- 
tate against  the  colored  man. 

In  thus  describing  my  own  experience  upon  being 
emancipated  from  slavery,  I  only  show  that  of  ever  four 
million  others.  History  does  not  record  where  four 
millions  of  people  had  been  held  in  slavery  so  long,  that 
they  had  lost  all  knowledge  of  the  way  to  provide  for 
their  own  support,  to  expend  their  earnings  to  advan- 
tage, to  use  economy  in  purchasing  necessaries  of  life 
and  to  lay  up  for  another  day. 

This  was  the  condition  of  the  Colored  people  at 
the  close  of  the  war.  They  were  set  free  without  a 
dollar,  without  a  foot  of  land,  and  without  the  where- 
withal to  get  the  next  meal  even,  and  this  too  by  a  great 
Christian    Nation,  whose    domain    is    dotted   over  with 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  WJ 

religious  institutions  and  whose  missionaries  in  heathen 
lands,  are  seeking  to  convert  the  heathen  to  belief  in 
their  Christian  religion  and  their  Christian  morality. 

These  slaves  had  been  trained  to  do  hard  manual 
labor  from  the  time  that  they  were  large  enough  to 
perform  it,  to  the  end  of  their  lives,  right  along,  and 
received  no  education  or  instruction  in  the  way  of 
economy.  They  had  no  care  as  to  the  way  they  were 
to  get  the  next  meal,  the  next  pair  of  shoes  or  suit  of 
clothes.  This  being  the  duty  of  the  master,  they  looked 
to  him  for  these  necessaries,  just  as  a  child  looks  to  its 
mother  or  the  horse  to  its  master  for  its  daily  susten- 
ance. 

The  history  of  this  country,  especially  that  portion 
of  it  south  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  shows  that  the 
labor  of  these  people  had  for  two  hundred  years  made 
the  country  tenable  for  the  white  man,  had  cleared 
away  the  dense  forests  and  produced  crops  that 
brought  millions  of  money  annually  to  that  section, 
which  not  only  benefitted  the  South,  but  the  North  as 
well.  It  does  seem  to  me,  that  a  Christian  Nation, 
which  had  received  such  wealth  from  the  labor  of  a 
subjugated  people,  upon  setting  them  free  would,  at 
least,  have  given  them  a  square  meal.  Justice  seems  to  ' 
demand  one  year's  support,  forty  acres  of  land  and  a 
mule  each. 

Did  they  get  that  or  any  portion  of  it?  Not  a  cent. 
Four  million  people  turned  loose  without  a  dollar  and 
told  to  "  Root  hog  or  die!  "  Now,  whose  duty  was  it 
to  feed  them?  Was  it  the  former  masters'  or  that  of 
the  general  government,  which  had  conquered  the 
masters,  and  in  order  to  make  that  victory  complete 
freed  their  slaves?  My  opinion  is  that  the  government 
should  have  done  it. 


Il8  FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME. 

The  master  had  been  conquered,  after  foir-  years* 
hard  fighting,  and  largely  by  the  aid  of  the  two  hundred 
thousand  Colored  volunteers,  mustered  in  the  United 
States  Army,  and  told  to  fight  for  the  freedom  of  their 
race.  The  history  of  that  conflict  says  they  did  it 
loyally  and  bravely. 

General  Lee  had  surrendered.  The  South  had 
staked  its  all  upon  that  contest  and  had  been  conquered 
and  laid  waste,  as  it  were;  its  business  gone,  its  crops 
confiscated  by  both  armies,  and  its  slaves  set  free,  but 
it  had  to  feed  these  homeless  and  penniless  people  or 
see  them  starve.  No  one  will  say  the  masters  did  not 
feed  the  freedmen  until  a  crop  was  made,  and,  too,  at  a 
time  when  they  had  no  money  in  cash  and  no  credit  at 
the  North. 

When  we  take  into  consideration  the  penniless 
condition  of  these  four  million  people  at  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  the  fact  that  they  were  destitute  of  education 
and  turned  loose  in  the  midst  of  a  people  educated  in 
science,  art,  literature  and  economy,  a  people  owning 
the  land  and  chattels  of  every  kind,  with  mone}'  to  do 
the  business  of  the  country  and  with  the  experience 
and  training  of  a  thousand  years,  the  fact  that  the  freed- 
men did  succeed  under  these  adverse  conditions  in 
obtaining  a  living,  and  in  many  cases  in  getting  little 
homes  for  themselves  and  families,  instead  of  becoming 
a  public  charge,  is  greatly  to  their  credit. 

Many  white  people  who  were  friendly  to  them  had 
great  mis-givings  and  doubts  as  to  whether  these  freed- 
men could  succeed  in  making  themselves  self-support- 
ing in  the  race  of  lite,  with  so  many  obstacles  to  meet 
and  overcome.  They  were  illiterate,  without  money 
and  confronted   with   a  prejudice   due   in    part  to  their 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  I  IQ 

former  condition  and  in  part  to  the  fact  of  their  being 
candidates  for  the  labor  work,  which,  up  to  that  period, 
had  been  performed  by  the  poor  whites,  especially  for- 
eigners, in  the  North,  East  and  West. 

The  freeing  of  the  American  slaves  and  their 
partial  migration  to  these  states,  seeking  employment, 
excited  the  enmity  of  the  white  laborers,  particularly 
the  Irish,  because  at  that  time  they  constituted  fully 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  laboring  class,  and  who 
imagined  that  the  influx  of  Negro  laborers  from  the 
South,  would  divide  the  labor  monopoly  which  they 
held,  and  of  course  they  became  opposed  to  the  Colored 
people  and  so  much  so,  that  they  would  have  done 
almost  anything  calculated  to  extirpate  them.  They 
were  always  ready  to  incite  a  riot  and  take  the  lead  in 
it,  and  had  not  the  business  men,  capitalists  and  minis- 
ters frowned  upon  their  course,  would  have  succeeded 
in  doing  serious  harm. 

I  remember  the  bitter  feeling  existing  between  the 
Irish  and  the  Colored  laborers  in  Leavenworth,  Kansas, 
which  had  its  beginning  about  the  close  of  the  war. 
They  had  several  little  conflicts,  and  on  one  occasion 
the  civil  authorities  interfered  to  prevent  bloodshed. 

I  recall  an  instance  when  the  Colored  people  had 
been  informed  that  the  Irish  were  intent  on  surround- 
ing the  Baptist  Church,  corner  Third  and  Kiowa  streets, 
to  "  clane  the  nagurs  out,"  on  Sunday  night.  The 
Colored  people  prepared  to  meet  them,  by  selecting 
Fenton  Burrell  as  captain,  and  secreting  nearly  fifty 
armed  men  in  a  vacant  lot  in  the  rear  of  the  church,  to 
await  the  appearance  of  the  Irish.  Soon  a  squad  of 
them  came  up  Third  street  to  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  the  church,  but  after  halting  a  few  minutes  marched 


120  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

back  and  dispersed.     I  learned  afterwards  that  Col.  D. 
R.  Anthony,  a  recognized  friend  of  both  races,  went  in 
person    to   the  leaders  and  informed  them  of  the  recep- 
tion they  would  receive  if  they  proceeded  further,  and 
advised  them  to  disperse  and  go  home,  which  they  did. 
The   Negro   has  committed  no  offense  against  the 
Irish;  the   two   races  had   never  lived  together  at  any 
time  to  engender  hatred,  and  as  I  understand  it,  there 
is   no   valid   reason   why  the   Irish  should  have  been  so 
bitter  against  the  Negro,  except  the  fact  that  they  were 
both  seekers  after  the  unskilled  labor  of  this  country.    I 
have    stated  that  it  was  the  labor  question  that  excited 
the  enmity  of  the  Irish  against  the  Colored  people,  and 
the  reason  why  I  say  this  is,  that  the  past  history  of  the 
two  races  since  the  conquest  of  Ireland,  by  England  is 
much   alike;  both   had    been    in    bondage   a   long  time. 
While    the    Irish    had    not   been   in   slavery,  pure   and 
simple,  they  had  been  held  in  a  state  of  subjugation  and 
servitude,  nearly  approaching  to  it,  and  enjoyed  but  few 
more   liberties   than    the  American  slave.     They  had  a 
country  only  in   name   and   no  voice  in  the  government 
thereof  or   ownership  in    the  land  on  which  they  lived, 
any  more   than    the  slaves  in  the  United  States      "I  hey 
were  not  free  men  until  they  reached  the  United  States. 
With  such  a  similarity  in  past  history  and  present  con- 
dition, it   would   seem   that  these  two  races  should  have 
been   friends   instead    of  foes,  and    in    my  opinion  they 
would   have    been,  had    they  not   been   seekers   for  the 
same     kind     of     employment,     and      thus     becoming 
competitors.       So      that      the       scramble       for       that 
employment   has   caused   the   Irish   to  resort  to  means, 
which  have  aided  largely  in  kindling  the  feeling  of  pre- 
judice against  the  Colored  people.     They  were  aided  in 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  121 

thus  accomplishing  this  object  by  the  native  poor  white, 
and  the  further  fact  that  they  were  white  men,  because 
whenever  that  question  or  issue  is  raised,  it  will  catch 
the  illiterate  whites  en  masse,  and  in  many  cases  the 
thoughtless  aristocratic  class,  who  will  join  a  mob  to 
lynch  a  Colored  man  without  giving  the  matter  a 
second  thought,  as  to  whether  he  is  guilty  or  not.  In 
many  cases  the  charge  is  cooked  up  for  a  sinister  pur- 
pose, to  get  rid  of  him,  or  in  order  to  obtain  a  lucrative 
position  held  by  him. 

I  have  stated  before  that  it  is  the  labor  question, 
more  than  any  other,  which  causes  the  Colored  people 
to  suffer  greater  indignities  than  any  other  class  of 
Americans  in  this  country,  and  I  believe  it  is  not  on 
account  of  their  color,  so  much  as  it  is  the  desire  of 
white  laborers  to  do  the  work  and  to  receive  pay  which 
might  go  to  him  It  is  an  admitted  fact  that  these  same 
laborers  or  mechanics  in  search  of  a  job,  will  go  South, 
where  the  Colored  men  have  charge  of  such  work,  or 
nearly  so,  and  will  not  only  work  with  them,  but  hire  to 
them  and  be  bossed  by  them.  Foreigners,  seeking 
employment,  have  gone  to  the  South  in  large  numbers 
during  the  last  five  years,  and  finding  there  the  typical 
poor  whites,  who  are  the  ancient  enemies  of  the 
Colored  people  and  ever  ready  to  do  them  harm,  have 
united  with  them  on  thj  color  line  and  raised  that  old 
familiar  cry  that  u  this  is  a  white  man's  country,  that 
white  men  must  and  shall  rule  it;  no  Negro  domination 
over  white  men."  When  that  feeling  has  grown  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  cover  the  real  designs  of  the  vicious 
elements,  and  to  deceive  the  better  class,  then  it  is  that 
the  charges  against  some  harmless,  helpless  Colored 
man   are   trumped  up,  and   they  lynch   him.     So  rapid 


122  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

is  the  mob  in  forming  and  blood-thirsty  in  its  murder- 
ous howls,  that  the  better  class  is  powerless  to  assist 
the  helpless  victim  while  alive,  and  when  dead  the 
charges  which  were  preferred  by  a  poor  white  man  or 
a  foreigner,  for  a  mere  trifle  or  sinister  purpose,  are 
magnified  until  it  would  appear  that  the  victim  was  a 
savage  brute  and  deserved  the  punishment  inflicted. 
So  brutal  are  these  charges  made  to  appear  after  the 
death  of  the  victim,  that  the  better  class  of  southern 
white  people,  allow  these  lynchers  to  escape  punish- 
ment, upon  the  ground,  I  suppose,  that  they  had  rid  the 
community  of  a  bad  character. 

The  lynching  of  the  Colored  people  is  always  the 
work  of  the  poor  white  laboring  class,  and  as  a  striking 
incident  tending  to  show  the  facts,  I  call  attention  to 
the  list  of  the  killed  and  wounded  at  Roanoke,  Va.,  in 
September,  1893,  when  the  State  militia,  in  upholding 
the  dignity  of  the  law  of  the  State,  fired  into  a  mob, 
killing  and  wounding  thirty  men,  twenty-four  of  whom 
were  laborers,  track-walkers,  section  hands,  and  em- 
ployes in  the  machine  shops  of  that  city.  I  take  these 
figures  from  the  published  report  made  at  the  time  of 
the  occurrence;  and  to  my  mind  one  thing  is  made 
plain  by  this  incident,  which  is  this,  that  it  was  not  the 
aristocracy  that  was  doing  the  lynching  at  the  South,  or 
any  other  part  of  the  country,  though  they  are  held 
morally  responsible  in  the  eyes  of  the  nation. 

But  the  aristocracy  of  the  South  is  getting  its  eyes 
open  to  this  growing  evil,  and  I  am  of  the  opinion,  that 
its  eyes  will  not  have  been  opened  any  too  soon,  for 
this  is  only  another  form  of  anarchy,  which  is  feeding 
itself  upon  the  Colored  people,  and  will  ere  long  turn 
upon  the  aristocrat  and  the  capitalist,  and  serve  them 
even  worse  than  the  Colored  people  have  been. 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  123 

The  better  class  at  the  South  will  soon  see  the 
error  of  their  past  conduct,  if  they  have  not  already 
done  so,  in  taking  the  poor  whites  into  their  confidence 
and  social  circle,  which,  I  suppose,  was  for  political 
purposes,  for  they  now  feel  themselves  the  equals  of 
their  former  lords,  and  will  not  down  at  their  bidding. 
They  drove  out  the  Republican  government  at  the 
South  by  brutal  force,  and  they  had  the  acquiescence 
of  their  former  lords,  who  enjoyed  a  benefit  for  a  time, 
but  this  element  of  roughs,  augmented  by  the  influx  of 
foreigners,  is  beginning  to  show  its  disloyalty  to  the  old 
aristocratic  element  by  leaving  them  at  home,  and  when 
possible,  sending  one  of  its  ilk  as  a  representative  to  the 
legislative  halls,  State  and  National. 

But  as  to  lynching,  I  think  I  see  among  the  better 
class  evidence  of  a  change  of  public  sentiment  taking 
place  at  the  South,  a  return  to  law  and  order,  as  indi- 
cated by  a  few  extracts  from  leading  newspapers  in 
that  section.  The  first  is  from  the  Indiana-polis 
World  (Colored),  issue  of  September  19,  1893,  as  fol- 
lows: "  It  looks  as  if  light  were  breaking  into  the  hith- 
erto darkened  condition  of  the  South.  The  carnival  of 
crime  in  which  the  depraved  and  merciless  element  of 
that  section  has  reveled  unchecked  for  many  months, 
is  at  last  arousing  the  dormant  spirit  of  justice  and  fair 
play,  inherent  in  the  American  bosom,  and  the  fabric 
upon  which  our  Constitution  rests.  Just  as  the  insolent 
and  exorbitant  ambition  of  the  slave  power  laid  the 
train,  which  resulted  in  the  downfall  of  the  unfavorite 
institution,  the  repeated  cruelties,  tortures,  and  human 
outrages  of  southern  brutes  has  awakened  the  con- 
science of  the  better  classes,  whose  love  for  the  fair 
name    of  their    country  outweighs  all    fear    of  Negro 


124  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

domination.  The  i  vaulting  ambition '  of  the  stake- 
burners  and  lynchers  has  overstept  itself,  and  we  verily 
believe  the  reign  of  misrule  is  reaching  the  beginning 
of  the  end." 

A  few  months  ago,  scarcely  a  southern  newspaper 
dared  to  lift  up  a  voice  against  the  inhuman  practices 
of  the  mobs.  They  either  gave  open  encouragement 
to  their  so-called  u  best  citizens,"  or  silently  acquiesced. 
To-day,  however,  the  leading  journals  of  Virginia, 
South  Carolina,  Georgia,  Tennessee  and  Louisiana, 
perceiving  the  change  of  the  tide,  and  that  the  southern 
craft  is  dashing  dangerously  near  the  breakers  of 
anarchy,  are  pleading  for  a  cessation  of  horrors,  and 
the  re-establishment  of  law  and  order.  The  Mem-phis 
Commercial  has  been  at  all  times  one  of  the  most  arro- 
gant and  ungenerous  enemies  of  the  Negro  throughout 
the  South,  but  it  is  a  revelation  of  a  highly  creditable 
character  to  hear  it  give  birth  to  such  sentiments  as 
these:  "  Even  when  outraged  virtue  and  all  the  ties  of 
nature  and  humanity  call  for  the  death  of  criminals,  the 
demoralization  of  violence  and  the  contagion  of  cruelty 
accompany  these  things.  There  is  no  passion  which 
so  thrives  from  gratification  as  the  lust  of  cruelty.  The 
English  Parliament  declared  that  public  executions 
were  debauching  the  whole  British  people.  Mercy 
was  drowned  in  blood  during  the  reign-  of  terror,  and 
the  whole  future  of  French  civilization  is  stained  and 
poisoned  by  the  memory  of  the  guillotine.  So  it  is  with 
lynching  in  the  South.  The  horror  has  spread,  and  a 
people,  originally  the  gentlest,  bravest,  noblest  in  the 
world,  are  actually  threatened  with  a  generation  of 
cruel  and  violent  men.  Every  boy,  who  witnesses  a 
lynching,    loses    something    of    his    humanity.      Every 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BV    ME.  125 

groan  of  the  dying  wretch  kills  part  of  his  native  ten- 
derness, and  every  drop  of  blood  congeals  the  mercy 
and  gentleness  of  his  heart.  It  were  better  that  a 
young  man  should  cut  off  his  right  hand  than  to  see  the 
torture  of  one  man.  It  is  better  that  he  should  be 
struck  with  deafness  than  to  hear  the  death  shriek  of 
one  dying  ravisher. 

"  Such  scenes  have  made  the  Murats  and  Robe- 
spierres  of  history.  Such  things  done  in  America  will 
curse  the  future  of  civilization  and  darken  the  glory  of 
coming  years.  Hence,  we  deem  that  swift  and  sum- 
mary justice  should  be  meted  by  law  to  all  who  prac- 
tice these  horrors,  unless  the  flagrancy  of  the  offence 
justify  lawlessness  by  the  higher  law  of  necessary  pun- 
ishment. In  Louisiana,  a  few  day  ago,  a  mob  of  brutal 
whites  most  cruelly  lynched  three  innocent  Negroes, 
and  have  sent  word  to  the  agents  of  the  State's  laws 
that  they  intend  to  burn  another  one  in  broad  daylight. 
This  constitutes  treason,  and  we  hold  that  the  Governor 
of  Louisiana  should  stamp  it  out  at  once,  if  it  must  be 
done  with  the  bayonet  of  armed  authority.  It  is  the 
glory  of  the  South,  up  to  this  time,  in  spite  of  all  that 
may  be  said  to  the  contrary,  that  she  has  been  consid- 
erate, generous  and  kind  in  the  face  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult class  of  conditions  that  ever  confronted  a  people. 
Let  us  not  lose  so  fair  a  fame  by  any  delays  of  laws  or 
fears  of  prejudice." 

These  sentiments  are  their  own  comment,  and  in- 
dicate that  if  the  appeals  of  the  Negro  for  justice  for 
justice's  sake  are  ignored,  the  southern  leaders  are 
learning  that  they  cannot  escape  the  consequences  of 
natural  laws  and  are  moved  to  action  through  the  law 
of    self-protection.     The    strong    stand    taken    against 


126  FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME. 

mob  violence  by  Governor  Brown  of  Maryland,  Gov- 
vernor  McKinney  of  Virginia,  and  the  ringing  words  of 
brave  Mayor  Trout  of  Roanoke,  are  all  encouraging 
cases  in  point,  which  evidence  the  change  of  front  by 
the  intelligent,  thrifty  and  liberty-loving  people  below 
the  Mason  and  Dixon  line. 

We  must  not  lose  our  head,  or  fly  into  an  impotent 
rage  when  contemplating  our  wrongs.  Let  us  recog- 
nize fully  the  seriousness  of  our  condition,  study  the 
temper  of  the  southern  mind,  analyze  the  cause  of 
every  action  against  us,  and  set  about  applying  a  sensi- 
ble remedy,  based  upon  the  state  of  the  case  as  shown 
by  the  symptoms.  A  condition  which  is  the  natural 
outgrowth  of  slavery  will  improve  as  the  evils  of  that 
period  diminish.  Therefore  let  us  grow  in  education, 
in  wealth,  in  respectability,  in  morals,  and  in  political 
generosity,  and  we  will  rise  to  our  rightful  place  in  the 
esteem  and  confidence  of  the  nation.  This  will  take 
time,  and  time  is  an  essential  element  in  the  solution  of 
all  chronic  complaints  and  in  all  great  problems. 

Before  closing  this  chapter,  I  feel  that  an  explana- 
tion should  be  made  as  to  what  I  really  mean  in  using 
the  term  "  poor  white  "  people,  for  I  do  not  want  to  be 
understood  as  meaning  that  all  poor  white  people  are 
alike,  and  therefore  are  opposed  to  the  Colored  people's 
enjoying  the  rights  and  immunities  conferred  upon 
others  by  the  law  of  the  country,  for  such  is  far  from 
my  intention  or  desire.  There  are  thousands  of  aristo- 
cratic white  people  who  are  poor,  financially  speaking, 
due  to  accident  or  misfortune,  but  they  still  retain  in 
their  veins  the  blood  of  aristocracy,  that  will  not  and 
cannot  be  concealed  by  the  change  of  position.  This 
class,  as  a  result  of  the  war,  is  more  largely  found   in 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  127 

the  South,  but  wherever  found,  as  a  rule,  they  always 
are  the  friends  of  the  oppressed,  and  the  Colored  people 
regard  them  as  their  friends. 

Blood  and  education  will  tell;  even  the  children  of 
that  class  of  men  are  infinitely  superior  to  those  of  the 
typical  poor  whites,  whose  offspring  seldom  rise  above 
the  positions  held  by  their  fathers'  in  life,  and  when  we 
find  one  who  has,  we  regard  him  as  the  exception,  and 
not  the  rule.  He  may  acquire  wealth,  and,  on  account 
of  it,  command  respect,  but  will  have  all  the  failings  and 
prejudices  of  his  kind  or  line  of  consanguinity. 

Now  as  to  the  Irish,  I  do  not  want  it  understood 
from  what  I  have  said  concerning  the  position  they  have 
occupied  toward  the  Colored  people,  that  they  are  all 
enemies  to  the  ex-slave,  for  such  is  not  the  case,  be- 
cause there  are  thousands  of  them  in  this  country  as 
friendly  to  the  Colored  people  as  any  other  class  of 
American  citizens,  and  just  as  ready  to  give  them  a  fair 
show  as  any  other. 

But  I  will  state,  that  my  experience  has  been  that 
this  class  of  Irish  Americans  are  the  refined,  educated 
class  always,  and  not  the  common  laborer,  or  the  illit- 
erate class.  But  I  think  I  see  a  gieat  change  for  the 
better  taking  place. 

The  Irish  who  have  been  in  this  country  long 
enough,  and  are  educated,  and  have  accumulated 
money,  are  giving  up  the  labor  work,  and  engaging  in 
the  various  kinds  of  business,  leaving  the  labor  work  to. 
be  performed  by  others,  and  in  such  cases  they  cease  to 
be  prejudiced.  The  Germans  have  never  sought  the 
labor  work  of  the  country,  and  therefore  have  always 
been  friendly  with  the  Colored  people,  and  retain  their 
friendship  and  confidence  in  return. 


128  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

I  have  stated  in  a  former  chapter  that  the  Colored 
people,  notwithstanding  the  many  adverse  circum- 
stances surrounding  them,  did  succeed  in  obtaining  a 
living  and  avoided  becoming  a  great  public  charge, 
which  fact,  I  think,  will  be  universally  admitted  But 
we  can  go  further  and  show  that  they  not  only  accom- 
plished this,  but  other  things,  equally  as  great  during 
the  period  from  1865  to  the  present.  Many  white  peo- 
ple believed,  when  these  people  were  freed  that  they 
were  incapable  of  taking  education,  and  therefore  could 
not  safely  attain  to  citizenship,  all  of  which  has  long 
since  been  shown  to  be  erroneous,  and  at  this  present 
time  the  men  holding  such  views  cannot  be  found. 

The  Colored  people  have  fully  demonstrated  their 
ability  to  take  education,  not  only  in  the  common,  but 
in  the  higher  branches  as  well,  and  as  rapidly  and  as 
thoroughly  as  the  white  student.  They  have  also 
shown  their  ability  to  master  any  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions, so  that  the  men  who  have  heretofore  prated  so 
loudly  about  the  incapacity  of  the  colored  man,  have 
been  driven  successfully  from  each  stand  they  have 
taken,  until  the  last  ditch  is  reached;  they  now  admit 
the  Colored  man's  ability  to  cope  with  them  in  the  pro- 
fessions, but  say  he  is  unreliable.  But  he  will  soon  drive 
them  from  that  position  also. 

We  are  now  classed  as  a  "  Negro  "  race.  Webster 
says  the  word  "  Negro  "  applies  to  black  men  of  south- 
ern  Africa,  or  their   descendents.     While   there  are  a 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  I  2Q. 

few  pure  black  men  among  the  Colored  people  of  the 
United  States,  at  the  most,  not  over  one-fifth,  the  other 
four-fifths  are  mixed,  in  a  lesser  or  greater  degree,  with 
the  white  race,  and  this  process  of  mixing  has  been 
going  on  for  over  two  hundred  years.  Children  take 
their  nationality  from  their  mothers  and  not  their 
fathers;  so  that  every  child  whose  mother  is  a  white  or 
a  Colored  American,  is  an  American  to  all  intents  and 
purposes,  and  cannot  be  otherwise.  These  mixed 
bloods  married,  and  begat  children,  who  were  Ameri- 
cans. Though  they  were  deprived  of  their  liberty  by 
American  law,  they  could  not  be  called  Africans  any 
more  than  the  white  Americans  could  be  called  Euro- 
peans, and  this  forces  me  to  state  that  there  is  no  such  a 
thing  as  a  Negro  race  in  this  country.  We  are  Col- 
ored Americans  and  this,  I  think  is  the  proper  name 
for  us. 

One  thing  is  pretty  clearly  seen,  and  that  is,  we  are 
not  a  race  with  sufficient  race  pride  and  affinity,  which 
are  the  special  prerequisites  of  all  races  of  men  in  the 
great  struggle  for  race  supremacy.  We  have  not  and 
cannot  have  race  pride,  because  we  know  nothing  of  a 
mother  country;  nothing  of  a  united  people;  nothing 
of  the  different  nations  in  Africa,  from  which  some  of 
our  ancestors  were  purchased  or  stolen.  We  are  here 
by  the  will  of  God,  and  He  wiil  in  His  own  time  and  in 
His  own  way  shape  our  destiny.  For  the  present,  in 
my  opinion,  we  are  here  to  show  the  sin  and  wicked- 
ness of  the  American  people,  and  we  are  herr  to  stay. 
This  is  our  country;  our  coming  here  being  co-existent 
w7ith  that  of  our  white  brother,  we  know  no  other;  we 
have  contributed  our  full  share  to  make  it  what  it  is; 
we  have  defended  it  in  all  its  wrars,  before  and  since  the 


130  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

Declaration  of  Independence,  and  we  will  defend  it 
against  all  nations.  We  are  Americans  as  truly  as  any 
others  in  this  land;  this  is  our  home,  and  its  flag  is  our 
flag. 

I  have  been  unable  to  find  a  case  in  history, 
ancient  or  modern,  where  a  people  had  been  held  in 
subjugation  and  ignorance  so  long,  and  reduced  to  such 
a  state  of  immorality,  that  they  had  not  the  slightest  con- 
ception of,  or  respect  for  the  marital  relations,  and  espe- 
cially the  moral  law.  This  was  the  condition  of  the  Col- 
ored people  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  unnecessary  for 
me  to  ask,  who  was  responsible  for  this  crying  shame,  or 
whether  it  was  the  fault  of  the  Colored  people.  In  my 
opinion  it  was  and  is  the  sin  of  the  American  people, 
who  had  gone  to  Africa  and  stolen  little  children  from 
their  virtuous  homes  and  parents,  brought  them  here, 
reared  them  as  they  reared  their  cattle,  and  regardless 
of  the  rights  of  humanity,  the  laws  of  morality  and 
Christianity  itself,  reduced  them  to  slavery,  and  robbed 
them  of  all  conceptions  of  chasity  and  virtue.  I  have 
said  this  crime  was  committed  by  the  American  people, 
and  I  say  this,  because  nearly  every  one  of  the  original 
thirteen  States,  which  formed  the  United  States,  July  4, 
1776,  held  slaves  or  recognized  property  in  them.  But 
the  most  absurd  of  all  absurdities,  is  to  hear  white  peo- 
ple prating  about  the  immoral  conduct  of  Colored  peo- 
ple when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are  responsible  for 
whatever  they  see  in  us  to  condemn,  for  we  are  what 
they  made  us.  I  say  Colored  people,  because  we  would 
have  been  pure  black,  were  it  not  that  immoral  white 
men  have,  by  force,  injected  their  blood  into  our  veins, 
to  such  an  extent,  that  we  now  represent  all  colors, 
from   pure   black  to  pure  white,  and  almost  entirely  as 


FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME.  I3I 

the  result  of  the  licentiousness  of  white  men,  and  not  of 
marriage  or  by  the  cohabitation  of  Colored  men  with 
white  women. 

The  fact  is  this,  that  we  had  to  take  ourselves  as 
we  found  ourselves,  regardless  of  the  many  different 
shades  of  colors  among  us,  and  start  then,  for  the  first 
time  in  our  history,  to  build  our  own  characters  and 
homes,  with  a  very  limited  knowledge  as  to  the  way  to 
proceed.  Upon  being  emancipated  we  commenced  the 
practice  of  morality  and  virtue  by  going  to  the  church 
and  the  courts,  and  being  legally  married,  and  by  rais- 
ing our  children  up  in  the  care  of  the  church  and  the 
Sabbath  schools.  So  that  in  a  very  short  time  after  our 
freedom,  nearly  all  those  who  had  been  living  as 
man  and  wife,  by  order  or  consent  of  their  masters,  had 
been  lawfully  married.  Then  and  not  till  then,  did  we 
commence  to  build  our  own  homes  and  to  perpetuate  a 
name.  Of  course  the  name  could  be  only  that  of  our 
masters,  as  we  had  none  and  were  compelled  to  adopt 
that  of  our  last  master  or  some  other,  as  the  names 
that  were  borne  in  Africa,  by  our  stolen  ancestors, 
were  entirely  lost,  after  nearly  two  centuries  in  slavery. 

It  should  not  be  expected  that  a  people  with  so 
many  disadvantages  and  drawbacks  could  attain  to  the 
degree  of  morality  and  virtue  of  a  people,  who  had  the 
benefit  and  experience  of  a  thousand  years'  training, 
but  I  think  we  compare  very  favorably  with  that  class 
of  whites,  who  can  command  no  more  capital  than  we. 
Our  people  have  not  added  to  the  increasing  number  ot 
tramps,  infesting  nearly  eveiy  State  in  the  Union,  com- 
mitting crime  wherever  they  go,  and  causing  the  women 
to  be  in  mortal  fear  in  the  absence  of  their  male  pro- 
tectors.    The   Colored  people   are,   as   a  rule,  content 


132  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

and  faithful  workers  wherever  employed,  a  fact  which 
contractors  who  have  given  them  work  will  confirm. 
They  have  never  been  known  to  organize  a  strike,  or  to 
be  in  any  way  connected  with  one,  unless  it  be  to  accept 
work  where  white  strikers  had  refused,  and  that  at  the 
solicitation  of  owners  or  contractors.  So  that  it  may 
be  stated  without  the  fear  of  successful  contradiction, 
that  the  Colored  laborers  are  the  most  reliable  class  of 
workers  the  country  possesses  to-day,  less  riotous, 
less  turbulent  and  more  tractable  than  any  other 
class,  and  can  and  do  perform  as  full  a  day's  service. 

The  Colored  American  is  most  loyal  to  his  govern- 
ment as  a  citizen  and  as  a  soldier,  a  fact  which  will  be 
generally  admitted  by  even  his  worst  enemies.  He  is 
not  to  be  classed  among  the  anarchists,  or  any  other 
class  of  men  who  plot  against  the  laws  of  the  land. 
His  loyalty  and  bravery  as  a  soldier  have  been  shown, 
not  only  in  the  late  war,  but  since  as  an  enlisted  man  in 
the  regular  army,  a  fact  which  the  Seventh  United 
States  Cavalry  will  admit  willingly,  because  it  was  the 
Colored  troops  that  came  in  the  nick  of  time  to  their 
aid  at  the  Wounded  Knee  fight,  and  turned  defeat  into 
victory.  And  speaking  of  their  loyalty,  I  feel  safe  in 
making  the  assertion,  that  they  would  be  among  the 
first  to  enlist  to  defend  the  old  flag,  in  case  of  an  inva- 
sion by  a  foreign  enemy,  even  though  he  landed  his 
forces  in  the  extreme  South. 

Having  no  mother  country  with  which  to  divide 
his  sympathies,  the  old  flag  would  receive  the  Colored 
soldier's  loyal  support.  Can  this  be  truthfully  said  of 
any  other  distinct  class  of  adopted  citizens  ?  I  think 
not.  Suppose  this  country  was  forced  to  declare  war 
against  Germany  or   Italy,  could   we   expect  the   undi- 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  133 

vided  support  of  the  German  Americans  or  the  natural- 
ized Italians  ?  Not  at  all.  We  would  be  at  the  mercy 
of  either  of  these  great  powers,  because  they  could 
have  their  spies  and  emissaries  in  our  rear  at  every 
movement.  This  would  not  be  the  case  with  the  Col- 
ored Americans,  who  know  only  America,  and  whose 
allegiance  need  not  be  questioned.  The  Colored 
American  will  be  found  fighting  in  the  ranks  of  the  loy- 
alists to  sustain  our  present  system  of  government  in- 
tact when  the  great  conflict  shall  come,  which  now 
seems  threatening,  and  which  came  near  being  inau- 
gurated at  Chicago  in  the  spring  of  1894,  between  those 
who  are  loyal  to  our  present  economic  system  of  gov- 
ernment, and  the  extreme  socialists,  who  are  mostly  of 
foreign  birth,  and  therefore  less  in  sympathy  with  our 
institutions  and  established  mode  of  government. 

The  Colored  American  will  always  be  found  vot- 
ing and  righting  on  the  side  of  the  white  American  aris- 
tocratic classes,  the  classes  that  have  made  our  com- 
mon country  what  it  is  to-day — the  best  government  on 
the  face  of  the  globe,  and  who  are  striving  to  keep  it 
in  the  lead  of  all  other  civilized  governments. 

There  are  several  questions  of  great  magnitude 
agitating  the  minds  of  the  American  people  to-day, 
questions  which,  have  been  before  them  for  the  last  few 
years;  and  which  will  have  10  be  met  and  settled,  in 
my  opinion,  at  no  very  distant  day,  and  in  that  final  set- 
tlement, whether  in  a  war  of  ballots  or  bullets,  the  Col- 
ored Americans  will  wield  an  important  power,  and 
will  have  an  opportunity  to  make  themselves  masters 
of  the  situation. 

When  the  social  question,  or  the  struggle  between 
labor  and    capital,  between    law    and    order,    between 


134  FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME. 

American  and  encroaching  foreign  ideas,  shall  present 
themselves  for  settlement,  the  Colored  Americans,  be- 
ing most  loyal  to  everything  that  is  American,  and 
especially  to  those  things  which  conduce  to  law  and 
order  and  good  government,  can  and  will  always  be 
found  battling  against  the  anarchist  and  the  revolution- 
ist of  any  character.  On  account  of  their  unwavering 
lo)'alty  to  America  and  its  established  institutions,  the 
Colored  Americans  will  in  such  struggles,  in  all  proba- 
bility, hold  the  key  to  the  situation,  or  the  casting  influ- 
ence, and  if  rightly  and  wisely  used,  they  will  hold  the 
balance  of  power  in  this  country. 

I  have  tried  to  show  that  the  typical  poor  whites 
and  their  allies,  the  foreigners,  seeking  to  control  the 
labor  work  of  the  country,  are  no  friends  of  the  Col- 
ored people,  and  have  never  been,  and  that  the  Colored 
people  cannot  support  any  measure  they  may  advocate. 
So  then  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Colored 
people  to  support  the  principles  of  the  better  classes  of 
white  people,  North  and  South,  for  the  aristocratic 
classes  are  our  real  friends,  and  are  also  the  friends  of 
good  government  for  Americans. 

I  cannot  see  how  a  Christian  nation  can  so  far  for- 
get its  duties  as  to  allow  a  loyal,  industrious  class  of  its 
citizens  to  suffer  injustice  and  wrongs  at  its  hands,  a 
class  of  people  who  only  ask  a  fair  chance  in  common 
with  its  other  citizens.,  One  great  injustice  the  Colored 
people  are  forced  to  suffer,  without  the  means  of  re- 
dress, is  at  the  hands  of  the  press,  especially  the  period- 
icals, which  allow  an^  writer  who  may  wish  to  attack 
the  Colored  people,  space  to  vent  his  spleen,  and  when 
he  has  given  his  story  about  them,  whether  true  or 
false,  the  publishers  will  not  allow   the  Colored   writer 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 35 

space  to  reply.  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  these  publish- 
ers will  promptly  refuse  to  publish  articles  reflecting 
upon  the  moral  habits  and  character  of  any  other  dis- 
tinct class  of  people  in  this  country.  Then  why  treat 
the  Colored  people  differently  ?  Fair  play  and  a  fair 
show  are  all  they  ask,  and  this  they  will  ever  ask,  and 
as  Americans  this  they  have  a  right  to  ask. 

Great  injustice  has  been  inflicted  upon  the  Colored 
people  of  this  country  by  men  engaged  in  business  en- 
terprises, such  as  manufacturers,  mill  and  mine  owners, 
in  their  refusal  to  give  them  employment.  These  great 
captains  of  industry  have  persistently  discriminated 
against  the  sober,  industrious,  faithful  Colored  Ameri- 
can citizen,  and  given  preference  to  foreigners,  who, 
neither  understanding  nor  feeling  the  slightest  interest 
in  our  institutions,  have,  at  times,  by  strikes  and  boy- 
cot^,  caused  great  loss  to  the  employer  and  the  em- 
ployed, and  unnecessary  inconvenience  to  the  general 
public 

I  make  no  complaint  against  that  class  of  men, 
who,  leaving  the  old  world  and  coming  to  the  new,  and 
assuming  the  responsibilities  of  American  citizenship 
in  good  faith,  adopt  the  broad  American  doctrine  of 
equal  rights  to  all.  I  refer  to  that  irresponsible  class, 
who,  leaving  their  country  for  their  country's  good, 
have  contributed  little  or  nothing  to  the  peace,  order 
and  prosperity  of  the  United  States;  they  are  the  incit- 
ers of  strikes,  riots  and  general  disorder  in  nearly  all  of 
our  great  centres  of  population. 

The  situation  in  this  respect  is  becoming  more  and 
more  a  matter  of  anxiety  and  alarm  on  the  part  of  pa- 
triotic Americans,  and  the  question  now  confronting  us 
i>,  "  What  shall  we  do  about   it  ?"     Many  things   can 


I36  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

be  done,  some  of  which  must  be  done  speedily.  Re- 
strict imigration  to  the  industrious,  sober,  law-abiding 
classes,  enforce  the  law  rigorously  against  rioters,  anar- 
chists, and  the  like,  make  education  compulsory,  and 
teach  English  in  all  the  public  schools,  and  admit  to  the 
factories,  the  mills,  the  mines,  and  other  works,  the 
worthy  American  worker,  both  white  and  Colored,  upon 
terms  of  perfect  equality. 

It  is  a  burning  shame,  a  dirgrace  to  the  country, 
that  our  own  citizens  should  be  denied  the  opportunity 
of  earning  a  livelihood  at  the  suggestion  of  a  herd  of 
ignorant  and  lawless  foreigners. 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 37 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  white  people  charge  us  with  being  imitators, 
incapable  of  originating  anything  in  the  domain  of 
science,  art  or  invention,  and  to  a  certain  extent  I  am 
free  to  admit  that  the  charge  is  true,  and  the  reasons 
are  easily  explained  Being  a  new  people,  as  it  were, 
we  had  not  attained  to  the  point  of  originality,  and  sit- 
uated in  the  midst  of  white  people  who  had  education, 
refinement  of  manners,  money  and  the  advantage  it 
gives,  we  are  compelled  to  imitate  them.  Besides,  it 
was  their  advice  to  us  to  do  so  if  we  wished  to  succeed, 
and  we  have,  therefore,  been  imitating  them  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  adopting  their  habits  and  customs,  the 
good,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  the  bad  as  well.  Having 
followed  the  advice  of  those  white  people,  who  we 
knew  meant  well,  and  whom  we  knew  to  be  our  real 
iriends,  as  anxious  for  our  success  as  we  were,  and 
who  will  have  our  sincere  thanks  always,  for  the  noble 
and  generous  deeds  they  have  done  for  us;  yet  we  have 
made  mistakes.  Whenever  we  could,  we  gave  our 
children  the  same  course  of  study  that  white  children 
received,  often  graduating  them  from  the  same  plat- 
form, and  then,  when  able,  sent  our  boys  to  college  to 
take  a  professional  course,  either  in  law,  medicine  or 
the  ministry,  this  being  the  usual  course  followed  by 
white  parents,  and  being  imitators,  could  we  be  ex- 
pected to  adopt  any  other  with  our  limited  means  or 
foresight  ?     I  answer,  no. 

Being  a  peculiar,  or  I  might  say  a  proscribed  peo- 


I38  FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME. 

pie,  the  same  course  of  study,  after  leaving  the  com- 
mon branches,  which  was  deemed  best  for  the  white 
children,  experience  has  shown  us,  was  not  the  best 
suited  for  the  Colored  children.  Being  almost  entirely 
a  laboring  class  of  people,  we  should  have  used  every 
means  in  our  power  to  educate  our  children's  hands  as 
well  as  their  heads  by  giving  them  a  trade  of  some 
kind,  by  establishing  industrial  schools  as  a  part  of  the 
course  of  study,  so  that  our  boys  would  have  a  trade 
when  they  reached  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  and 
our  girls  at  the  same  age  coming  out  of  the  schools, 
would  be  trained  nurses,  cooks  or  seamstresses,  pre- 
pared to  make  an  honest  living. 

I  do  nut  want  it  to  be  understood  that  I  am  op- 
posed to  the  higher  studies  or  professsions  ;  far  be  it 
from  me.  On  the  contrary,  I  am  proud  of  every  young 
Colored  man  who  has  attained  to  these  honors,  and 
would  be  glad  to  see  as  many  more  turned  out  full- 
fledged  every  year.  In  order  that  they  may  take  our 
places  in  the  labor  w  orld,  when  we,  who  have  been 
taught  trades  by  our  owners,  shall  have  passed  from  life 
to  death,  we  should  strive  to  give  our  children  trades 
of  some  kind,  and  we  should  commence  now  Have 
we  to-day  as  many  shoemakers,  carpenters,  bricklay- 
ers, blacksmiths,  stone  masons  and  wagon  makers 
among  us  as  when  emancipated  ?  I  think  not.  This 
presents  a  very  unfortunate  condition,  if  true,  and  I  be- 
lieve it  is  But  I  am  glad  to  see  our  people  awakening 
to  this  neglected  duty,  and  I  think  no  man  deserves 
more  credit  for  this  than  Booker  T.  Washington,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Tuskegee  Normal  and  Industrial  Institute. 

On  the  fourth  of  July,  1881,  this   school   began,  in 
an  old   church   building,  with  one   teacher  and  thirty 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  139 

pupils.  Since  then  its  growth  has  been  most  remarka- 
ble. To-day  it  owns  over  1500  acres  of  land,  nineteen 
buildings,  has  more  than  six  hundred  students,  forty- 
one  teachers,  and  gives  instruction  in  eighteen  indus- 
tries. Its  lands  and  buildings  are  worth  $185,000.  Its 
industries  include  farming,  brickmaking,  sawmill  work, 
planing,  carpentry,  painting,  brickmasonry,  plastering, 
blacksmithing,  wheelwrighting,  chairmaking,  mattress- 
making,  printing,  bee-culture;  and  for  girls,  laundering, 
general  housekeeping,  sewing,  including  cutting  and 
making  garments,  and  cooking  lessons  for  seniors. 
Eight  of  the  largest  buildings  have  been  built  wholly 
or  in  part  by  student  labor.  It  has  been  the  aim  of  the 
school  from  the  first  to  combine  thorough  mental  train- 
ing with  industrial  work. 

No  one  can  visit  the  school  to-day  and  see  what  it 
is  doing  in  the  class-room,  in  the  farm,  in  the  carpenter- 
shop,  in  the  blacksmith-shop,  in  the  sawmill,  in  the 
brickyard,  in  the  printing  office,  in  the  laundry,  in  the 
sewing  room,  in  the  literary  societies,  and  in  the  vari- 
ous religious  exercises, — for  the  development  of  the 
head,  hand  and  heart  of  the  young  men  and  women 
gathered  there,  without  feeling  profoundly  thankful  to 
God. 

There  are  a  few  things  about  this  school  that  are 
especially  worthy  of  note:  1st.  It  is  a  live  school.  It 
believes  in  progress.  It  has  never  stood  still  a  day 
since  its  organization.  Every  year  it  presents  new 
evidences  of  growth  and  development.  2nd.  It  does 
what  it  aims  to  do  thoroughly.  It  employs  only  well- 
qualified  officers  and  teachers,  and  subjects  all  its  pupils 
to  the  most  rigid  examination  before  sending  them 
forth.     3rd.     It  is   no  sham  affair,   existing  on    paper 


I4O  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

only.     It  is  all  it  represents  itself  to  be,  and   more;   and 
it  does  all  it  professes  to  do.     4th.    Its  funds  are  wisely 
and  economically  administered;  there  is  no  waste  any- 
where, everything  is  utilized,  and  utilized  for  the  gen- 
eral good.     The  immediate  work  to   which   the   school 
is  committed,  in  its  greatness  and  importance,  seems  to 
weigh  upon  every  mind;  and  how  to  get  the   most   out 
of  what  they  have  is  the  one  thought.     Hence   the  sal- 
aries are  small   and  the  working   force   is   cut   down   to 
the   smallest  possible   number,   thereby  increasing   the 
burdens  of  the  officers  and  teachers,  but   by  them  wil- 
lingly, cheerfully  endured,  as  it  helps  to  keep  down  ex- 
penses; hence,  also   the  buildings,  as  well  as  their  fur- 
nishings, the  food,  etc.,  are  all  of  the  plainest  character. 
An  example  of  the  rigid   economy  which  characterizes 
everything   there,  may  be  found   in   the  fact,  that  eight 
dollars  will   keep    a  young  man  there  for   a   month,  in- 
cluding everything,  board,  lodging,  washing,  mending, 
fuel  and  light.     5th.     Every  officer   and  teacher  in   it, 
from  the  beginning  to  the   present,  has   been   Colored. 
Whatever  ability  has  been  displayed   therefore   in   the 
management   of  its   affairs,  and   in  working  it  up  to  its 
present  high  standard,  we  may  justly  claim  as  our  own. 
In  this  particular  it  stands  alone  among  the  Colored  in- 
stitutions  in    our   land.     Not   that  there    are   no   other 
schools  that  have  proved   a   success   under  exclusively 
Colored  management  and   direction,  but   none   of  such 
magnitude,    whose    success    is     so    unquestioned,    and 
where  such  large  sums  of  money  are  expended   annu- 
ally. 

The   feeling   of  the  whites  in   the  neighborhood  is 
now   most  friendly  to   the   school,  and  they  frequently 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  I4I 

employ  the  students  in  their  different  departments  of 
labor.  As  an  illustration  of  this  friendly  feeling,  a 
southern  lady  living  near  the  school  has  recently  given 
to  it  an  estate  valued  at  $15,000. 

At  the  head  of  this  school,  and  its  animating, 
controlling  spirit,  from  the  very  beginning,  is  Prof. 
Booker  T.  Washington,  a  graduate  of  Hampton, 
a  quiet,  unassuming  man,  with  a  wise  head  and  a  big 
heart,  and  the  weight  of  this  race  problem  resting  upon 
him  as  upon  scarcely  any  other  that  I  have  met.  You 
do  not  hear  very  much  about  him  through  the  columns 
of  the  newspapers,  or  of  his  addressing  great  meetings 
in  the  various  parts  of  the  country;  but  judged  by  his 
work,  he  is  a  most  remarkable  man — a  man  to  be 
proud  of,  and  to  be  honored,  a  modest  man,  caring 
nothing  about  notoriety,  content  to  be  unknown,  so  long 
as  the  work  goes  on,  and  his  people  go  up  ;  a  born 
leader,  with  all  the  elements  of  leadership,  especially  for 
the  work  in  which  he  is  engaged,  with  a  ke^n  intellect, 
a  strong  will,  courage,  perseverance  and  enthusiasm. 

When  this  great  race  problem  shall  be  solved  ; 
when  slavery  and  all  its  dreadful  consequences  shall  be 
a  thing  of  the  past,  and  when  we  shall  stand  on  the 
same  plane  with  others  in  point  of  wealth,  intelligence 
and  culture,  which  I  firmly  believe  we  will,  and  even 
the  history  of  the  influences  by  which  it  has  been 
brought  about  shall  be  written,  I  believe  that  no  man 
will  be  assigned  a  more  honorable  place  than  this  man, 
Booker  T.  Washington. 

I  have  written  quite  fully  of  the  institution  over 
which  Professor  Washington  presides,  to  the  exclusion 
of  others,  not  because   there   were   no  others  worthy  of 


142  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

mention,  but  because  I  had  fuller  information  of  that 
institution  than  of  any  other.  But  I  am  reliably  in- 
formed that  there  are  several  such  schools  established 
in  the  South,  and  that  they  are  doing  a  good  work,  but 
being  in  their  infancy,  as  it  were,  are  not  on  a  par  with 
the  Tuskegee  Institute. 


FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME.  1 43 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

In  a  former  chapter  I  have  attempted  to  show  the 
manner  in  which  we  have  suffered  in  the  past  from  the 
effects  of  an  unwarranted  prejudice  against  us,  due  not 
so  much  to  our  color  as  to  our  condition,  and  from  the 
mistakes  we  have  made  in  mapping  out  the  course  best 
suited  for  us  to  follow.  We  are  a  peculiar  people, 
Hitherto  unknown  to  the  laws  of  the  United  States.  We 
have  been  made  citizens  by  these  laws,  but  are  still 
regarded  as  [a  distinct  people.  In  this  chapter  I  shall 
try  to  give  my  views  as  to  the  best  course  for  us,  as  a 
j  classy  to  pursue  in  order  to  succeed  in  the  race  of  life 
as  newly  made  citizens,  and  this  advice  is  intended 
wholly  for  the  Colored  people. 

Above  every  other  consideration  we  must  get 
money,  and  to  do  that,  we  must  engage  in  business  of 
some  kind,  however  small,  and  then  support  it  with  our 
undivided  patronage.  By  so  doing  we  shall  not  only 
build  up  business  houses,  but  create  places  for  our  boys 
and  girls  when  they  leave  the  schools,  fitted  for  higher 
callings  than  the  mudhod  or  the  washtub.  We  can  do 
this  without  any  sacrifice,  as  we  are  compelled  to  spend 
a  large  portion  of  our  earnings  for  the  necessaries  of 
life  any  way,  and  when  it  comes  to  the  question  as  to 
whether  we  shall  spend  it  with  a  white  or  a  Colored 
tradesman,  other  things  being  equal,  the  question  itself 
ought  to  suggest  the  answer. 

We  would  do  well,  in  my  opinion,  to  take  a  few 
lessons  from  the   Hebrews  in  this   country,  as  to  the 


144  FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME. 

way  in  which  to  accumulate  money,  for  they  have  been 
sorely  pressed  by  all  Christian  nations  for  centuries, 
and  notwithstanding  have  steadily,  and  in  the  face  of 
great  prejudice,  accumulated  vast  wealth.  By  turning 
their  attention  entirely  to  trade,  they  have  been  enabled 
to  command  respect  by  reason  of  their  money  solely, 
so  that  to-day,  especially  in  this  country,  they  have  a 
very  high  standing  in  the  commercial  business  of  the 
country,  and  are  gradually  increasing  it  each  year,  so 
that  it  is  only  a  matter  of  time,  when  they  will  be  able 
to  control  such  business.  They  give  their  children  a 
common  school  course,  then  a  business  course,  and 
then  put  them  to  work  as  salesmen,  rarely  ever  send- 
ing them  to  college. 

We  are  the  real  producers  of  the  wealth  of  the 
country,  especially  of  the  southern  portion,  and  have 
that  advantage  over  the  Hebrews,  who  never  produce 
anything  at  any  time,  and  yet  they  strive  to  control  the 
business  of  the  entire  country.  As  an  evidence  of  the 
fact  that  we  are  the  real  producers,  note  the  large 
number  of  mercantile  failures  when  there  is  a  short- 
age in  the  crop.  Now  then,  since  we  are  the  producers 
of  the  wealth,  why  not  spend  it  in  a  way  to  benefit  our- 
selves? So  long  as  the  merchant  can  get  our  trade 
without  recognition,  he  will  not  give  employment  to 
our  young  men  and  women,  in  consideration  of  that 
class  of  trade,  and   is  sometimes  bold  enough  to  say  so. 

As  a  case  in  point,  I  will  state  this:  A  few  years 
ago,  a  certain  merchant  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue, 
Washington,  D.  C,  who  had  and  still  has  a  large  trade 
with  the  Colored  people,  especially  the  better  class, 
including  the  families  of  clerks  in  the  several  depart- 
ments   and   school    teachers,    there    being    over    three 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  145 

hundred  of  them,  was  applied  to  by  a  delegation  of 
Colored  citizens  for  a  position  for  a  respectable  and 
well-educated  girl,  wanting  employment.  They  called 
his  attention  to  the  fact  that  he  had  a  very  large  Col- 
ored patronage  and  that  he  had  employees  represent- 
ing nearly  every  other  class  of  people,  and  that  it 
would  be  nothing  more  than  fair  to  give  employment  to 
one  Colored  saleswoman.  He  refused.  They  gave 
him  to  understand  that  an  effort  would  be  made  to 
withdraw  the  Colored  trade  from  him,  since  he  would 
not  recognize  it  in  a  substantial  way.  His  reply  was: 
"  Gentlemen,  you  may  make  all  the  efforts  you  please, 
but  you  cannot  do  it;  good  day  " 

Are  we  prepared  to  say  that  this  merchant  did  not 
state  the  fact?  I  think  not,  because  he  knew  our  dis- 
organized condition,  our  inability  to  concentrate  our 
strength  in  a  way  to  make  it  effective,  and  therefore 
felt  free  to  tell  the  delegation  to  their  faces,  "  You  can- 
not do  it."  He  spoke  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and 
nothing  but  the  truth,  because  they  could  not  do  it 
then,  and  cannot  do  it  now,  and  never  will  until  the 
Colored  people  are  educated  to  it  by  force  of  self- 
defence. 

As  parents  we  are  partly  responsible  for  the  idle- 
ness and  unemployed  condition  of  our  young  men  and 
women,  after  they  have  reached  maturity  and  left  the 
schools,  by  neglecting  to  utilize  the  means  in  our  hands 
for  the  benefit  of  our  children.  After  having  given 
them  an  education  which  fits  them  for  higher  callings 
than  mere  ordinary  laborers,  we  fail  to  create  these 
higher  places  for  them,  and  the  children,  as  a  matter  of 
fact,  have  been  injured  rather  than  benefited  by  our 
misdirected  kindness   and    parental    love.     To  a  very 


I46  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

large  extent  this  accounts  for  the  great  number  of 
young  men  and  women  marching  the  streets  in  idle- 
ness, for  which  we  are  directly  and  morally  responsible. 
We  have  no  just  cause  for  censuring  the  white  people 
for  their  conduct  toward  us  in  refusing  us  recognition. 
They  have  done  no  wrong;  they  have  only  taken 
advantage  of  the  opportunities  we  have  given  them  and 
nothing  more.  They  know  that  we  are  a  disorganized 
people,  and  while  in  that  condition  are  certainly  not  in 
a  position  to  strike  back  when  pressed,  and  therefore 
they  press  us  with  impunity. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  the  prejudice  against 
us  is  due  to  color;  while  in  part  that  might  be  true, 
there  is  another  and  a  greater  cause,  which  in  my  opin- 
ion, fans  and  keeps  alive  that  hydra-headed  monster, 
and  that  is  our  penniless  condition.  We  are  a  class  of 
people  who  represent,  comparatively  speaking,  nothing, 
and  in  the  business  world  absolutely  nothing,  although 
we  are  the  producers  of  the  wealth  in  several  States,  as 
has  already  been  stated,  we  have  no  voice  in  the  baiter 
and  sale  of  it. 

The  laws  are  made  by  and  for  the  business  men 
of  all  countries  and  not  in  the  interest  of  the  laboring 
classes.  The  business  men  are  the  law-makers  in  this 
country  and  of  course  shape  the  laws  to  suit  their  own 
interests.  My  candid  belief  is,  that  more  respect  will 
be  shown  us,  when  we  are  represented  in  the  business 
world,  and  I  think  we  should  make  an  effort  to  be 
represented  in  the  various  lines  of  business  as  other 
Americans.  We  have  tried  various  plans,  looking  to 
success,  and  have  not  attained  it  to  a  very  satisfactory 
degree,  and  I  think  the  time  has  come  for  us  to  try 
something   new.     If  we   were  a  distinct  race,  as  some 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  147 

writers  who  have  not  given  the  subject  much  thought 
assert,  the  advice  to  make  an  effort  would  be  supei- 
fluous,  because  being  a  race  we  would  necessarily  be  a 
united  people,  aiding  one  another  in  efforts  to  rise. 
Circumstances  compel  us  to  be  a  distinct  class  of 
Americans,  without  regard  to  shades  of  color;  because 
we  have  many  among  us  who  are  as  white  as  any  Cau- 
casian, but  when  the  fact  is  known  that  they  have  in 
their  veins  the  slight  admixture  of  African  blood, 
whether  they  are  of  light  or  dark  hue,  they  are  all 
classed  as  Colored  people,  treated  as  such,  and  might 
as  well  mingle  as  such,  allowing  character  only  to  be 
the  dividing  line.  The  fact  is  this,  we  are  all  Colored 
people  and  must  hold  together  as  such,  if  we  expect  to 
succeed,  remembering  that  in  union  there  is  strength, 
and  the  old  adage  which  is  a  good  one,  that  it  is  better 
to  be  a  king  among  dogs  than  a  dog  among  kings. 

I  have  thus  tar  tried  to  show  some  of  the  causes 
operating  against  our  progress  and  the  part  we  have 
acted  or  taken  against  our  own  best  interests,  in  our 
blind  efforts  to  succeed.     And  now  as  to  the  remedy. 

Our  ministers  see  the  necessity  of  our  being  more 
closely  united  in  a  business  way.  They  picture  the 
good  results  that  will  follow  such  action,  and  like  Rev. 
Dr.  Seaton,  of  Georgetown,  D.  C ,  heartily  approve 
such  a  course,  and  at  the  same  time  lay  the  blame  for 
non-action  at  the  doors  of  our  political  leaders,  by  say- 
ing that  they  should  have  been  advising,  urging  and 
educating  our  people,  up  to  this  essential  necessity  long 
ago.  Our  political  leaders  also  see  the  necessity  of 
such  action  on  our  part,  and  have  advised  us,  whenever 
they  had  a  chance  to  be  heard,  to  be  more  closely 
united,  but  they  insist   that   little   good   can  be  accom- 


I48  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

plished  until  our  ministers  become  interested  in  the 
matter.  Here  it  is  seen  that  both  classes  of  leaders  see 
the  need  of  and  admit  the  necessity  for  such  action,  and 
yet  both  remain  comparatively  inactive.  Not  being  a 
minister  or  a  political  leader,  I  feel  myself  competent 
to  decide  this  question  without  prejudice  and  therefore 
state  that,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  the  failure  of  our  spiritual 
advisers  to  discharge  their  whole  duty  towards  their 
congregations,  and  I  will  mention  some  of  my  reasons 
for  making  this  assertion.  In  the  first  place  our  minis- 
ters wield  a  greater  influence  over  the  people  than  any 
other  class  of  men,  and  can  if  they  choose,  lead  them 
into  almost  any  measure  they  may  wish  them  to  adopt. 
They  have  led  them  to  contribute  of  their  meagre  earn- 
ings, the  large  sums  of  money  invested  in  church  prop- 
erty, located  in  every  State.  It  was  raised  by  the 
untiring  efforts  of  our  spiritual  advisers,  a  little  at  a 
time;  so  that  it  is  claimed  that  the  Colored  ]  eople  of 
the  United  States,  own  over  two  hundred  million  dol- 
lars worth  in  church  property,  and  support  fifteen 
thousand  ministers,  at  an  annual  cost  of  seven  and  a 
half  million  dollars  a  year.* 

By  the  payment  of  such  a  large  sum  annually, 
without  a  murmur  on  our  part,  it  would  seem  quite 
reasonable  that  we  are  entitled  to  and  should  have  not 
only  the  spiritual,  but  the  temporal  advice  as  well,  for 
we  need  it  badly  Again,  our  ministers  are  always  in 
touch  with  their  congregations  and  see  their  needs, 
have  their  undivided  attention  whenever  desired,  talk  to 


*  The  above  figures  are  furnished  by  Rev.  F.  J.  Grimke, 
of  the  Fifteenth  Street  Presbyterian  Church,  Washington,  D.  C,  from 
which  I  make  the  estimate  of  five  hundred  dollars  as  the  average  cost  of 
each  minister,  which  I  think  very  reasonable. 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  I49 

them,  selecting  their  o  .vn  subjects  every  week,  about 
saving  souls,  and  the  course  they  should  pursue  to 
accomplish  that  desirable  result.  All  this  is  very  good, 
and  they  love  their  pastors  for  showing  them  the  way 
to  eternal  life,  but  it  seems  to  me  that  while  the  minis- 
ters have  their  ears,  confidence  and  continued  attention, 
and  knowing  their  divided  and  thereby  weakened  con- 
dition, should,  if  they  have  any  genuine  pride  in  them, 
take  advantage  of  their  position  and  give  them  some 
instruction  as  to  the  caring  for  the  body,  as  well  as  the 
soul.  If  they  will  do  this,  as  though  it  were  really  a 
religious  duty,  advising  them  mutually  to  aid  one 
another  with  their  patronage,  they  will  have  rendered 
their  people  a  lasting  service. 

There  is  hardly  a  doubt,  that  our  ministers  have  an 
advantage  over  our  political  leaders  in  this;  they  have 
the  people  before  them  every  week,  and  therefore  have 
a  better  opportunity  to  advise  and  urge  them  towards 
united  action,  than  the  political  leader,  who  may  not 
have  a  chance  to  address  his  people  more  than  once  or 
twice  in  a  year,  and  that  at  some  celebration.  I  am 
decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  the  various  religious 
bodies  in  this  country,  supported  by  us,  should  instruct 
their  ministers  and  see  that  they  carry  it  out,  to  devote 
more  time  to  the  temporal  care  of  their  congregations, 
by  teaching  and  urging  upon  them  the  necessity  of 
being  more  closely  united  as  a  people;  that  in  union 
there  is  strength;  that  a  house  divided  against  itself 
cann(  t  stand.  Our  ministers  can  unite  us,  and  they 
alone  can.     Will  they  make  the  effort? 

Those  among  us  who  have  accumulated  wealth 
have  done  so  single-handed  and  alone,  and  against 
great  odds,  and  in   nearly  every  case  by  dealing  with 


I50  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

white  men,  rarely  with  a  majority  of  Colored  custom- 
ers. I  cannot  recall  a  single  instance  where  a  Colored 
merchant,  relying  solely  upon  the  patronage  of  his  own 
people,  has  succeeded.  That  old  idea  drilled  into  them 
during  slavery,  that  white  people  are  better  than  Col- 
ored people,  is  still  in  them,  notwithstanding  their 
denial  of  the  fact,  for  it  is  shown  in  their  actions,  in  the 
purchase  of  what  they  need  and  in  the  employment  of 
skilled  workmen.  If  the  job  is  a  small  one,  amounting 
to  a  few  dollars,  we  may  give  it  to  a  colored  workman,, 
but  if  it  is  a  large  one,  we  give  it  to  a  white  man,  who 
will  then  send,  probably,  the  Colored  bidder  to  do  the 
work,  and  we  are  satisfied.  And  as  to  our  purchases,. 
we  act  as  though  the  white  man's  goods  were  better  than 
those  of  the  Colored  man.  In  this  respect  the  upper 
as  well  as  the  lower  classes  of  Colored  people  need 
training  badly,  a  fact  which  many  of  us,  who  are  now 
or  have  been  in  business  will  confirm. 

When  we  are  ripe  for  it,  there  will  appear  Colored 
men   with    means   ready  to   enter   nearly  every   line   of 
business,  who   are  now  afraid  to  do  so,  because  of  the 
fact   that   they   cannot  rely  upon   their   own  people  for 
support. 

We  recognize  three  distinct  grades  among  us; 
namely,  the  wealthy  or  those  who  have  acquired  money* 
supporting  their  families  in  the  style  that  aristocratic 
Americans  do;  the  working  class  including  those 
engaged  in  business,  professors,  tradesmen,  and  the 
daily  laborers;  the  third  and  last  class  includes  the 
shiftless,  worthless,  and  thoroughly  degraded.  Many 
prejudiced  white  people  affect  to  know  but  one  grade, 
and  that  the  lowest  always,  and  promptly  charge  all 
crimes   committed   by  that  class  to  the  Colored  people 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 5  I 

generally,  taking  that  class  as  a  criterion  by  which  to 
judge  the  entire  people,  placing  men  like  Frederick 
Douglass  on  a  par  with  this  degraded  class,  in  speak- 
ing to  him  about  them  as  "  your  people."  They  know 
as  well  as  they  know  anything,  that  Mr.  Douglass  has 
no  more  dealings  or  association  with  that  class  of  Col- 
ored people,  than  Chauncey  M.  Depew  has  with  the 
roughs  and  thugs  of  New  York.  It  really  makes  me 
feel  hurt  to  hear  white  men  who,  I  believe,  know  bet- 
ter than  to  talk  that  way,  men  who  will  never  reach 
Mr.  Douglass's  standing,  if  they  live  to  be  old  as 
Methuselah. 

It  would  be  well  for  us  to  remember,  that  we  can- 
not always  be  considered  as  little  helpless  babes,  and 
therefore  objects  of  charity  by  the  white  philanthro- 
pists of  this  country.  They  have  been  very  liberal 
towards  us  in  their  donations  to  establish  institutions  of 
learning,  not  only  in  the  common  branches,  but  the 
higher  as  well,  so  that  we  have  a  large  number  of  col- 
leges and  universities  sustained  by  donations  from  the 
white  people,  regardless  of  politics.  We  own  many 
million  dollars  worth  of  school  property,  located  in  the 
South,  which  came  to  us  by  donation,  besides  a  large 
amount  invested  in  church  property,  much  of  which 
came  in  the  same  way.  The  charitably-disposed  white 
people  of  this  country  have  been  very  good  to  us,  but 
we  are  now  nearly  thirty-year  old  children,  and  these 
philanthropists  will  find  that  out  some  day  and  cease 
their  liberality  upon  the  ground,  that  we  are  old  enough 
to  take  care  of  ourselves.  Can  we  dispute  this  fact?  I 
think  not.  We  will  have  to  meet  the  obstacles  I  have 
referred  to  at  no  distant  day,  and  should  be  paving  the 
way  to   that  end,  so  as   to  be  prepared  for  them  when 


152  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

the  time  comes.  If  there  is  a  better  plan  than  the  one 
I  have  suggested,  one  more  practical,  let  it  not  be  only 
stated,  but  adopted  and  put  into  active  operation,  for 
we  cannot  expect  to  succeed  with  so  many  difficulties, 
as  we  are  now  forced  to  encounter,  unless  we  unite 
ourselves  more  closely. 

In  addition  to  present  obligations  as  members  of 
our  several  religious  creeds,  we  should  have  one  obli- 
gation, pledging  our  support  and  patronage  to  each 
other  in  preference  to  any  other  class.  As  already 
stated,  we  are  morally  and  religiously  responsible  for 
the  conduct  and  character  assumed  by  our  children  in 
after  life.  Jf  as  parents,  we  have  discharged  our  whole 
duty  towards  them,  and  have  complied  with  divine  in- 
struction in  accordance  with  Proverbs  xxii.  6:  "  Train 
up  a  child  in  the  way  he  should  go,  and  when  he  is  old 
he  will  not  depart  from  it,"  we  need  have  no  fear  as  to 
our  childrens'  success  in  after  life. 

One  almost  neglected  field  of  labor  in  which  our 
ministers  should  spend  more  time  and  attention  in  their 
efforts  for  reform,  and  one  which  is  in  the  line  of  their 
special  calling,  is  this:  A  very  large  number  of  sup- 
posed Christian  people,  members  of  churches,  in  most 
cases  in  good  standing,  entertain  and  practice  a  false 
idea  of  the  virtue  of  prayer,  believing  honestly  that  it  is 
the  panacea  for  every  evil,  and  cure  for  ever  wrong 
committed,  even  intentionally.  They  believe  that  any 
crime  committed  against  the  law  of  the  land,  or  any 
violation  of  the  laws  of  God,  can  be  atoned  for  by 
prayer  ;  or  in  other  words,  they  believe  that  they  can 
steal  the  goods  and  chattels  of  another,  and  without 
making  restitution  go  to  the  Lord   in    prayer,  and    that 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  153 

he  will  forgive  them  and  allow  them  to  retain  the  stolen 
goods.  Among  the  illiterate  class  of  Colored  people, 
this  false  idea  or  misconception  of  divine  law  is  prac- 
ticed entirely  too  much.  Our  ministers  should  turn 
their  attention  to  the  eradication  of  this  evil  practice  or 
false  conception  of  the  word  of  God  In  a  large  de- 
gree, in  my  opinion,  this  accounts  for  the  great  number 
of  church  members,  in  good  standing  before  the  police 
and  other  courts,  charged  with  petty  larceny. 

There  is  another  evil  practice  which  is  closely 
allied  to  the  one  above  described,  and  needs  the  atten- 
tion of  our  teachers  and  preachers  badly.  It  is  this, 
religion  without  morality.  We  have  too  many  immoral 
religionists  in  our  churches.  There  are  members  of 
our  churches  apparently  filled  with  religion,  as  it  were, 
and  at  the  same  time  totally  devoid  of  morality.  I  can 
conceive  of  a  moral  man  without  religion,  but  I  cannot 
•conceive  of  a  religious  man  devoid  of  morality. 

Among  the  illiterate  and  also  the  shiftless  class  of 
Colored  people  these  seeming  incongruities  exist,  and 
herein  lies  work  for  our  educated  ministers  and  our 
Christian  teachers  to  show  the  right.  We  want  pure 
men  and  women,  honest,  upright,  reliable,  and  trust- 
worthy in  every  station,  and  to  obtain  them  we  must 
raise  up  our  children  correctly,  or  in  other  words,  we 
must  raise  them  up  to  be  truthful  and  relf-respecting. 
The  young  man  or  young  woman  possessing  these 
qualities  will  succeed  even  in  adversity,  for  these  traits 
of  character  will  be  of  incalculable  benefit  to  them  in 
obtaining  and  filling  responsible  positions. 

With  the  aid  of  our  ministers,  the  reforms  I  have 
mentioned  can  be  obtained,  and  our  ministers  will  have 


154 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 


made  themselves  our  leaders  in  fact,  and  we  will  have 
been  placed  under  renewed  obligation  to  them,  and 
will  also  be  placed  in  a  better  condition  to  respond  to 
their  support  than  we  have  been  in  the  past.  Will 
they  undertake  this  great  reform,  and  continue  to  per- 
severe until  their  efforts  shall  be  crowned  with  success  ? 
I  hope  and  pray  they  will. 


FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME.  1 55 


CHAPTER  XV. 

In  this  closing  chapter  I  shall  try  to  give  more  of 
my  personal  history  than  has  been  stated  in  the  pre- 
ceding ones;  for  in  those  I  spoke  only  of  matters  and 
things  as  I  saw  them,  and  incidentally  mentioned  the 
wrongs  wTe  suffered,  the  causes  leading  up  to  them  and 
the  remedy.  But  in  this  chapter,  as  stated  above,  I 
shall  confine  myself  more  closely  to  my  own  personal 
history  and  experience. 

By  the  winter  of  1 867-1868,  I  had,  by  hard  work 
and  strict  economy,  since  the  close  of  the  war,  saved 
up  five  hundred  dollars,  with  which  I  bought  out  a 
small  business  fronting  on  the  levee  at  Leavenworth, 
Kansas,  and  made  money  out  of  it  from  the  day  I  took 
possession.  I  immediately  had  improvements  made  to 
the  extent  of  two  hundred  dollars,  and  thought  I  had  a 
bonanza.  Being  located  in  an  old  frame  building,  I 
could  get  but  two  hundred  dollars  insurance  on  my 
stock,  and  it  was  good  that  I  got  that  much,  for  within 
sixty  days  from  the  time  I  bought  the  place  it  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire,  with  its  contents.  I  had  the  two  hun- 
dred dollars  only.  I  then  secured  another  location,  and 
with  the  assistance  of  the  firm  of  Haas  &  Co.,  mer- 
chants of  that  city,  I  was  partly  on  my  feet  again, 
although  in  debt  to  them  for  my  stock  of  merchandise. 
I  succeeded  in  paying  off  my  debts  and  getting  a  fair 
living  out  of  the  business,  and  continued  it  until  the 
fall  of  1870,  when  I  transferred  it  to  Atchison,  Kansas, 
where  I  still  continued  in   the  same   business    until   the 


156  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

fall  of  1875,  when  it,  too,  was  destroyed  by  fire,  entail- 
ing a  loss  of  six  hundred  dollars.  I  then  rented  the 
brick  building  on  the  corner  of  Fourth  and  Commercial 
streets,  owned  by  Hon.  C.  C.  Burnes,  and  opened 
again,  and  continued  the  business  until  the  fall  of  1878, 
when  I  was  forced  to  close  for  want  of  cash.  I  had 
bills  due  me  for  groceries  amounting  to  thirty-three 
hundred  dollars,  which  I  could  not  collect,  due  in  part 
to  two  causes:  a  very  severe  winter,  and  the  very  dry 
summer  which  followed,  in  which  the  farmers'  crops 
were  entire  failures.  My  liabilities  were  about  one 
thousand  dollars,  which  I  could  not  meet,  and  was 
forced  to  the  wall.  I  have  never  been  able  to  collect 
over  ten  per  cent,  of  those  bills,  which  are  now  dead  by 
limitation  of  statutes. 

About  this  time  I  found  myself  without  money,  and 
had  a  wife  and  four  children  to  support.  A  friend 
advanced  me  money  enough  to  buy  two  express  teams, 
one  of  which  I  drove,  and  the  driver  of  the  other  was 
paid  one  half  of  the  cash  he  collected.  I  made  a  fair 
living  out  of  that  business,  repaid  the  borrowed  money, 
and  had  some  cash  on  hand,  when  I  received  the  Re- 
publican nomination  for  the  Legislature  from  the  Fourth 
Legislative  District  of  Kansas,  in  the  fall  of  1880. 
After  a  hard  fought  campaign  I  was  defeated  by  Hon. 
George  W.  Glick,  by  twenty-five  votes,  out  of  a  total 
of  nine  hundred  and  fifty.  That  defeat  was  a  very 
severe  blow  to  me,  because  I  had  spent,  in  what  is 
called  legitimate  election  expense,  every  dollar  that  I 
had  saved  up. 

Soon  after  the  day  of  election,  business  grew  very 
dull,  and  winter  set  in  early  and  was  very  severe,  so 
that  from  November  6,  1880,  to  January  10,  1881, 1  ex- 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEK    BY    ME.  157 

perienced  the  hardest  time  I  ever  saw.  I  had  a  family 
to  support  and  my  mules  to  feed,  as  they  did  not  earn 
money  enough  to  buy  their  feed  By  the  efforts  of 
Senators  L.  M.  Briggs,  A.  S.  Everest,  J.  W.  Rector, 
Ira  Collins,  Richard  Blue,  and  others,  I  was  elected 
Doorkeeper  of  the  State  Senate,  January  10,  1881. 
That  election  was  a  Godsend  to  me  at  that  time,  for  I 
was  hard  pressed  for  cash,  so  much  so,  that  I  did  not 
have  money  necessary  to  pay  my  fare  to  Topeka,  to  be 
sworn  in,  and  I  borrowed  ten  dollars  from  Colonel  John 
A.  Martin. 

The  pay  was  twenty-one  dollars  per  week,  which 
amount  carried  me  through  the  winter,  and  to  the 
close  of  the  session. 

Afcer  the  adjournment  of  the  Legislature  and  my 
return  home,  General  W.  W.  Guthrie  secured  for  me  the 
position  of  foreman  of  a  gang  of  forty-two  Colored  men 
to  work  a  construction  train  on  the  A.  &  N.  Rail  Road, 
between  Atchison,  Kansas,  and  Lincoln,  Nebraska. 
The  salary  paid  me  was  fifty  dollars  per  month.  I 
promptly  accepted  the  position,  and  held  it  until  August, 
1881,  when  my  brother,  who  was  then  Register  of  the 
United  States  Treasury,  telegraphed  that  he  could  get 
me  a  position  in  the  Post  Office  Department,  at  Wash- 
ington, at  a  salary  of  seven  hundred  and  twenty  dollars 
per  annum,  with  a  chance  of  promotion.  This  I  con- 
sidered a  permanent  job,  and  one  less  dangerous,  and  I 
accepted  it  and  came  on  to  Washington. 

After  one  year's  service  in  the  Money  Order 
Division  of  that  Department,  and  no  promotion  or 
prospect  of  one,  my  brother  secured  an  appointment  for 
me  in  the  Pension  Office,  at  the  salary  of  one  thousand 
dollars  per  annum,  and  I  was  sworn  in,  September   22, 


I58  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

1882,  as  an  examiner,  which  position  I  have  held  ever 
since.  I  was  promoted  to  Class  One  in  the  fall  of  1886, 
and  to  Class  Two  in  the  summer  of  1889.  Of  course, 
I  appreciated  these  honors,  and  felt  proud  of  them, 
probably  more  than  some  other  men  would  have  done. 
And  why  should  I  not,  when  I  recall  that  I  was  a  slave 
at  the  age  of  twenty-nine  years,  then  freed  without  a 
dollar,  could  not  write  my  name  at  the  close  of  the  war, 
but  by  close  study  since  then,  had  reached  these  posi- 
tions ? 

Having  served  under  every  Commissioner  who 
has  held  the  office  of  Commissioner  of  Pensions  since 
September,  1882,  and  having  had  a  good  opportunity 
for  observing  the  administration  of  the  office  by  each, 
candor  compels  me  to  state,  that  General  John  C. 
Black  filled  that  chair  with  more  dignity,  ability,  and 
impartiality,  than  any  of  those  under  whom  I  have 
served.  He  held  no  "  Star  Chamber"  investigations. 
If  one  clerk  preferred  charges  against  another,  he  was 
required  to  put  them  in  writing,  signing  his  name;  then 
the  accused  was  furnished  a  copy  of  said  charges,  and 
given  a  chance  to  be  heard  in  his  own  defense  before 
action  was  taken.  If  unable  to  meet  and  refute  said 
charges,  then,  and  not  until  then,  was  action  taken. 

Genera)  Black  was  Commissioner  in  fact,  when  he 
occupied  that  position,  and  no  underling  was  allowed 
to  dictate  to  him  his  duty.  No  clerk,  high  or  low,  re- 
publican or  democrat,  could  leave  his  desk  at  will,  and 
go  to  have  a  chat  with  the  Commissioner,  without  first 
obtaining  a  written  permit  to  do  so.  I  am  sorry  that  I 
cannot  say  the  same  of  others  under  whom  I  have 
served. 

General   Black   had   no  pets  ;  every  employe   was 


FREEDOM    AS   SEEN    BY    ME.  1 59 

required  to  perform  his  duty  without  favor  and  irre- 
spective of  party  or  color.  He  broke  up  the  rings 
which  had  existed  in  the  office,  whereby  some  got  easy 
places,  little  work  and  big  pay,  came  to  the  office  when 
they  pleased,  and  left  it  when  they  felt  like  it. 

Up  to  the  beginning  of  General  Black's  term  of 
office,  examiners  had  been  rated  according  to  the  num- 
ber of  pension  claims  submitted,  either  for  admission, 
rejection  or  special  investigation.  Gun  shot  wound 
claims  were  always  considered  as  easy  cases,  much 
more  so,  than  injury  or  disease  claims,  and  an  examiner 
who  was  lucky  enough  to  draw  from  the  files  a  bundle 
of  the  former  class  of  claims  had  an  advantage  over  his 
fellow  clerks,  who  drew  the  latter  class,  because  these 
gunshot  wound  cases  required  very  little  work  to  com- 
plete them,  while  the  other  classes  would  require  three 
or  four  times  as  much  work,  and  often  covering  from 
one  to  seven  years  time  in  which  to  obtain  the  neces- 
sary evidence  to  establish  the  claim  I  recall  an 
instance,  when  I  saw  a  chief  of  divisons  go  to  the  files, 
select  a  bundle  of  gun-shot  wound  claims,  bring  them 
to  a  certain  examiner's  desk,  lay  them  down,  smile  and 
walk  away.  Of  course,  that  examiner  gained  an 
advantage  over  others  by  the  action  of  his  friend. 

Soon  after  assuming  charge  of  the  office,  General 
Black  issued  his  famous  order,  number  no,  whereby  all 
employes  were  required  to  be  at  their  desks  at  nine 
o'clock,  A.  m.,  and  at  one  o'clock,  p.  m.,  thirty  minutes 
being  allowed  for  lunch,  from  twelve  thirty  p.  m.,  and 
to  remain  at  their  desks,  until  four  o'clock,  p  m.,  when 
the  office  closed.  Chiefs  of  divisions  were  required  to 
see  that  order  strictly  enforced,  and  to  report  all  viola- 
tors  of  it,  to  the   Commissioner  immediately,   and   he 


l6o  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

would  require  the  violator  to  write  him  a  letter,  explain- 
ing the  cause  of  tardiness.  If  the  excuse  given  was 
satisfactory  to  the  Commissioner  that  ended  it,  if  not, 
the  violator  received  a  severe  reprimand  through  letter, 
directly  from  the  Commissioner.  So  that  order  num- 
ber no,  cured  tardiness  effectually  in  the  Pension 
Office,  and  that  order  remains  in  force  to-day  and  not- 
withstanding the  great  number  of  orders  now  in  force, 
every  employe  has  perfect  knowledge  of  old  order, 
number  no. 

Up  to  the  spring  of  1885,  when  said  order  was 
issued,  many  favored  employes  failed  to  appear  at  their 
place  of  duty  on  time.  Some  were  thirty  minutes,  and 
some  an  hour  late;  some  would  leave  the  office  one, 
and  sometimes  two  hours  before  closing  time,  and  this 
would  occur  quite  often  during  the  month.  These 
same  employes  would  apply  for  their  thirty  days  annual 
leave  and  obtain  it,  just  the  same  as  those  who  had  not 
been  tardy. 

Order,  number  no,  has  been  modified  in  form 
some  what,  but  its  essential  parts  are  still  in  force  and 
will  remain. 

Promotions  under  General  Black's  administration 
of  the  Pension  Office,  were  based  upon  merit  solely, 
and  with  respect  to  Colored  men  it  was  eminently  so; 
for  they  were  Republicans  and  had  no  special  claims 
upon  a  Democratic  administration,  and  yet  I  am 
informed  that-  there  were  more  Colored  men  promoted 
under  that  administration  than  under  the  one  following 
it.  Of  course,  with  other  Colored  employes,  I  was 
quite  scared,  when  the  Democrats  carried  the  country 
in  1884,  thinking  that  we  would  all  be  discharged,  and 
when  we  were  not,  we  were  very  agreeably  surprised. 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  l6l 

Many  white  Republican  leaders  wished  it,  and  some 
were  bold  enough  to  say  that  the  Colored  man  would 
have  to  go.  Among  those  who  said  it  was  Ex-Senator 
Ingalls,  who  stated  to  me,  that  he  wished  the  Demo- 
crats would  discharge  all  Republican  office  holders.  I 
understood  him  clearly.  He  meant  it  as  an  aid  to 
solidify  the  Republican  party  vote  at  the  polls.  By  the 
failure  to  discharge  the  Colored  employes,  the  thing  the 
Republican  leaders  most  desired,  the  Democrats  made 
many  friends  for  their  party,  and  particularly  President 
Cleveland. 

Mr.  Cleveland's  election  in  1884,  and  assumption 
of  power  in  March,  1^85,  however  much  they  regretted 
it,  was  a  good  thing  for  the  Republican  leaders, 
because  they  had  on  hand  a  lot  of  old  barnacles  to  care 
for,  as  chiefs  of  divisions  and  the  like,  who,  occupying 
those  positions,  were  a  dead  weight  to  the  party,  and 
they  had  held  them  so  long,  that  rings  had  been  formed, 
whereby  none  but  its  members  or  their  friends  stood 
any  chance  of  promotion,  however  worthy  they  might 
be.  These  rings  were  so  well  organized,  that  they 
could  and  did  defeat  the  endorsements  of  Senators  and 
Members  of  Congress.  When  the  change  came  and 
these  leeches  had  to  step  down  and  out,  and  new  men 
appointed  fresh  from  the  people,  of  different  views  and 
politics,  with  no  pets,  no  favorites  and  free  from  ring 
rule,  and  whose  only  duty  or  desire  was  to  see  the 
work  over  which  they  had  charge  faithfully  performed, 
then  it  was  that  every  employe  was  required  to  attend 
strictly  to  his  duty,  and  every  one  was  placed  upon  a 
common  level. 

Some  of  these  deposed  chiefs,  on  account  of  old 
age  and   as   a   matter  of  charity,  in   some  cases,  were 


1 62  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

reduced  to  clerkships  and  allowed  to  remain;  but  even 
then  it  was  hard  on  them,  to  be  forced  to  come  down 
to  do  clerical  work  with  men  whom  they  had  lorded  it 
over,  and  in  some  cases  treated  unjustly  while  in 
power.  But  after  all,  the  service  was  purified  by  the 
change,  and  when  the  Republicans  came  to  power  in 
March,  1S89,  they  appointed  in  nearly  every  case  new 
men  from  the  States  to  these  chiefships,  who  were  free 
from  rings  and  cliques,  and  they  ignored  the  claims  of 
the  old  ex-chiefs,  who  thought  they  had  a  monoply  of 
these  positions,  and  were  bold  enough  to  say  so  when 
speaking  of  them,  as  "  my  old  place." 

Of  course,  the  Colored  employes  were  benefited 
by  any  change,  that  put  all  on  a  common  level  where 
no  favors  were  shown,  and  each  one  was  credited  with 
the  amount  of  work  done  and  nothing  more.  I  have 
seen  men  who  had  been  of  the  favored  class  before 
the  change,  working  hard  and  close  to  retain  their 
present  pay  in  the  higher  grades  to  which  they  had  been 
promoted  over  others  more  deserving.  Some  of  this 
class  of  employes  were  reduced  to  a  lower  grade,  and 
some  by  hard  work  and  promptness  to  duty  retained 
their  pay  in  the  higher  grades 

My  reference  to  rings  relates  to  the  Pension  Office 
exclusively,  but  I  have  been  reliably  informed  that  the 
system  obtained  also  in  other  bureaus  and  depart 
ments,  especially  the  Treasury. 

Hon.  James  Tanner,  who  succeeded  General 
Black,  as  Commissioner  of  Pensions,  was  an  able  man 
and  also  a  good  man,  and  one  liked  by  employes 
regardless  of  politics;  and  I  believe,  would  have  suc- 
ceeded in  the  administration  of  the  office  of  Commis- 
sioner   of   Pensions,    with  entire    satisfaction    to    the 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 63 

country,  had  he  surrounded  himself  with  strongmen  as 
advisers.  But  he  failed  to  do  so  and  failed  as  Commis- 
sioner, not  because  of  his  inability  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  office,  a  fact  which  can  be  proven  by  his 
previous  official  life  and  subsequent  conduct,  as  an 
attorney  before  the  various  departments  of  the  Govern- 
ment, but  solely  because  of  falling  into  the  hands  of 
weak  advisers. 

Mr.  Tanner  in  turn,  was  succeeded  by  Hon.  G.  B. 
Raum,  a  man  of  details  and  rules,  who  reminded  me  of 
what  an  English  correspondent  of  a  London  paper, 
who  was  with  our  army  during  the  late  war,  wrote  of 
General  McClelland,  to  his  home  paper,  after  seeing 
the  General  himself  superintending  the  laying  of  a  pon- 
toon bridge  across  some  river,  an  act  which  any  ordi- 
nary army  officer  could  have  done  with  ease.  The  cor- 
respondent said  that  General  McClelland  was  a  man  of 
details,  spending  his  time,  which  should  have  been 
devoted  to  a  higher  calling,  on  matters  of  minor  details, 
which  are  the  duties  of  subordinate  officers,  and  there- 
fore could  never  be  a  great  general. 

General  Raum,  would  have  been  a  great  success 
as  general  superintendent  of  the  working  force  of  the 
office,  seeing  it  clone  well  and  adopting  rules  best 
suited  for  its  accomplishment.  He  acted  the  part  of 
superintendent  well. 

There  are  chiefs  and  assistants  in  every  division. 
A  chief  clerk  and  assistant,  a  captain  of  the  watch,  and 
a  superintendent  of  the  building.  With  this  large  list 
of  officers,  one  would  suppose,  that  any  order  issued 
could  be  carried  out  to  the  letter,  without  the  personal 
attention  of  the  Commissioner,  but  such  was  not  the 
case.    He  could  be  seen  almost  any  day  giving  his  per- 


164  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

sonal  direction  to  the  divisions,  just  as  though  he  had 
no  officer  in  charge  competent  to  carry  out  his  orders. 
He  visited  every  part  of  the  building,  even  to  the  wash 
rooms;  for  I  have  seen  him  in  those  rooms  abusing  the 
laborers  about  the  spittoons,  etc.,  not  being  clean,  thus 
ignoring  his  captain  of  the  watch,  whose  special  duty 
it  was  to  look  after  such  work. 

General  Raum  had  no  pets  or  favorites  to  award 
easy  places,  and  I  think  that  he  was  a  man  who  really 
wanted  to  see  every  employe  doing  his  duty.  He 
worked  hard  and  wanted  others  to  do  the  same. 

With  his  record  before  us  as  General  of  Volun- 
teers, Member  of  Congress,  and  later  on  as  United 
States  Internal  Revenue  Commissioner, — -all  of  which 
positions  he  filled  with  eminent  satisfaction  to  the 
country, — can  any  one  doubt  for  a  moment  General 
Raum's  honesty  and  ability?     I  think  not. 

His  administration  of  the  Pension  Office,  while  it 
was  not  up  to  the  high  standard  attained  by  General 
Black,  was  the  equal  of  any  other  under  which  I  have 
served,  and  had  he  relied  more  upon  his  subordinates  to 
attend  to  the  minor  details  of  the  office,  and  devoted 
his  entire  time  to  higher  questions  of  law  governing 
pensions,  his  administration  of  that  office  would  have 
been  much  more  esteemed. 

Commissioner  Raum  was  succeeded  by  Judge 
William  Lochren,  the  present  incumbent,  who,  like 
General  John  C.  Black,  belongs  to  that  class  of  men 
who  disdain  to  do  small  things  and  whose  likes  and  dis- 
likes of  men  are  not  based  upon  their  color.  Therefore, 
he,  like  General  Black,  also  fills  the  chair  of  Commis- 
sioner of  Pensions  with  dignity  and  ability.  Exhibiting 
confidence   in   the   ability  of  his  subordinate  officers,  to 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 65 

effectively  carry  out.  his  instructions,  the  Commissioner 
relieves  himself  of  the  objectionable  duty  of  going  from 
room  to  room  to  watch  the  employes. 

Judge  Lochren  is  a  disciplinarian  and  insists  upon 
a  strict  compliance  with  the  rules  laid  down  for  the 
government  of  the  working  force  of  the  Pension 
Office,  and  allows  no  favoritism  to  be  shown  any 
employe  regardless  of  politics,  sex  or  color.  All  are 
required  to  perform  their  full  duty. 

A  man  whom  I  regard  as  thoroughly  reliable, 
informed  me  that  he  was  present  and  heard  what  was  said 
at  an  interview  between  Commissioner  Lochren  and  a 
certain  chief  of  a  division  in  the  Pension  Office,  who  had 
recommended  a  Colored  man  employed  under  him  for 
dismissal,  without  any  cause  assigned  or  charges  pre- 
ferred against  him.  It  appears  that  charges  of  dere- 
liction of  duty,  inefficiency  or  insubordination  had  been 
filed  against  several  employes  and  after  an  investigation, 
three  or  four  of  these  employes  were  recommended  for 
dismissal  and  the  papers  for  the  same  were  prepared 
and  laid  on  the  Commissioner's  desk  for  his  signature. 
By  some  means,  not  explained,  the  recommendation 
for  dismissal  of  a  Colored  man  whose  name  I  shall 
designate  as  Mr.  L.,  got  with  the  other  papers,  which 
had  been  agreed  upon  for  dismissal  for  cause,  and 
Commissioner  Lochren  approved,  and  then  sent  them 
to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  who  also  approved 
them,  and  those  employes  were  dismissed  in  a  few 
days  thereafter,  Mr.  L.,  in  the  lot.  Immediately  upon 
receiving  his  notice  of  discharge,  Mr.  L.,  sought  and 
obtained  an  interview  with  the  Commissioner  of  Pen- 
sions During  this  interview  it  became  clear  to  Mr. 
L.,  that  the  Commissioner  had  no  personal  knowledge 


1 66  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

of  his  case.  Mr.  L.,  then  presented  his  certificate  of 
discharge  and  politely  asked  to  know  the  cause  for 
which  he  was  dismissed.  Being  unable  to  state  the 
cause,  the  Commissioner  asked  Mr.  L.,  to  leave  with 
him  his  certificate  of  discharge  and  to  call  next  day, 
which  he  did.  Pending  this  conversation,  the  Com- 
missioner sent  for  the  division  chief,  who  made  the 
recommendation  for  Mr.  L's.  discharge,  and  demanded 
of  him  the  grounds  upon  which  he  had  recommended 
this  man's  dismissal.  He  could  only  state  that  he  did 
it  in  order  to  get  a  place  for  a  Democrat,  and  upon 
being  further  questioned,  he  admitted  that  there  were 
no  chargss  against  Mr.  L.,that  he  was  a  good  man  and 
had  discharged  his  duty  satisfactorily.  After  hearing 
his  reply,  the  Commissioner  turned  to  this  chief,  very 
abruptly,  and  said:  "How  dare  you  recommend  a  man 
for  dismissal  against  whom  no  charges  have  been  pre- 
ferred? I  want  you  to  understand  that  this  thing  must 
not  occur  again,  and  that  I  will  have  Mr.  L.,  reinstated 
immediately." 

It  is  needless  for  me  to  state  that  Mr.  L.,  was  rein- 
stated within  five  days  from  that  date  and  is  now  on 
the  pay  rolls  of  the  Pension  Office,  drawing  his  little 
stipend  of  nine  hundred  dollars  per  annum. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  small  man  gets  the 
position  of  chief  of  a  divison,  and  by  reason  of  the  fact 
that  he  has  none  of  the  aristocratic  blue  blood  in  his 
veins,  but  comes  from  the  lower  class  of  white  people, 
and  is  therefore  filled  with  the  prejudice  of  his  kind,  he 
will  try  hard  to  get  rid  of  Colored  clerks  under  him,  by 
means  which  are  very  questionable.  Cases  of  this  kind 
are  rare,  but  they  have  occurred  under  Republican  as 
well    as   Democratic   administrations  and  I    state    this, 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 67 

because  I  have  been  hearing  of  such  cases  during  the 
last  fourteen  years.  Such  white  men  are  in  all  political 
parties  and  whenever  elevated  to  power  over  Colored 
men,  will  deal  them  a  blow  in  the  back  when  they 
have  the  opportunity  to  do  so  under  cover. 

Now  as  to  dismissals,  reductions  and  promotions, 
they  have  occurred  under  every  administration  follow- 
ing a  change  of  political  control.  They  occurred  dur- 
ing President  Cleveland's  first  term  and  again  under 
President  Harrison's  administration,  and  it  is  quite 
reasonable  to  expect  them  to  occur  under  the  present 
regime;  because  the  -party  in  power,  will  always  find 
some  means  by  which  they  are  enabled  to  place  their 
political  friends  in  good  places.  It  was  the  practice 
under  Republican  rule,  and  it  is  the  practice  under 
Democratic  rule  and,  in  my  opinion,  it  will  always  be 
the  custom,  not  only  in  the  Pension  Bureau,  but  in  all 
the  departments  of  the  government,  even  at  the 
expense  of  reducing  their  opponents  to  lower  grade  in 
pay. 

Of  the  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  Colored 
employes,  borne  on  the  pay-rolls  of  the  United  States 
Pension  Office,  on  November  7,  1892,  there  was  only 
one  man  who  claimed  to  be  a  Democrat,  and  he  hails 
from  the  South  and  was  then,  and  is  now,  a  $1400 
clerk  There  were  four  or  five  Colored  employes,  who 
opposed  President  Harrison's  renomination,  but  when 
he  received  it  they  quieted  down  like  good  party  men, 
but  after  Harrison's  defeat,  they  commenced  to  trim 
sail,  as  it  were,  and  by  March  5,  1893,  they  had  become 
fullfledged  "  After  Election  Democrats." 

So  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  had  no  special  hold 
upon    a   Democratic    administration  for   favors    in    the 


1 68  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

shape  of  promotions.  There  were  one  hundred  and 
twenty-five  Colored  men  on  the  pay-rolls  of  the  United 
States  Pension  Office,  March  5,  1893,  and  there  are 
now,  March  30,  1895,  borne  on  said  rolls,  the  names  of 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three  Colored  employes, 
showing  that  we  have  lost  only  two  men  since  the 
Democratic  party  regained  control. 

The  records  of  this  office  show  the  following: 
Number   of  Colored   employes   on   the  rolls   March   5, 

1893: 
Clerks     -  -  -  -  -  92 

Labor  Roll    -----  33 


Total  -  -  -  -  125 

Number  of  Colored  employes  appointed  since  March  5, 

1893: 
Clerks     ------  1 

Labor  Roll    -  -  -  -  -  18 


Total  -  -  -  -  19 

Number  of  clerks  discharged  7 

Number  discharged  from  Labor  Roll  -  14 


Total  -  -  -  -  -         21 

Number  of  clerks  reduced     -  -  20 

Number  of  clerks  promoted  8 

Number  now  on  rolls  -  -  -  123 

Among  the  twenty  clerks  reduced,  from  a  higher 
to  lower  grade  of  pay,  my  name  occurs,  but  as  it  was 
a  political  matter  purely,  and  did  not  reflect  upon  my 
efficiency  as  a  clerk,  and  only  reduced  me  from  four- 
teen to  twelve  hundred  dollars,  I  felt  that  there  was  no 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  1 69 

cause  afforded  me  to  grumble  and  did  not  do  so.  And 
although  being  one  of  the  unlucky  number,  I  am  free 
to  say,  that  Colored  employes  have  been  fairly  treated 
thus  far,  under  Judge  Lochren's  administration,  and  so 
far  as  my  own  personal  treatment  goes,  I  can  say  truth- 
fully, that  I  never  received  more  respect  and  kindness 
under  any  administration,  than  I  have  under  the  officers 
of  this,  from  the  Commissioner  down  to  my  section 
chief. 

Like  most  people  in  the  States,  who  have  only  a 
vague  idea  of  a  clerkship  in  the  departments  of  the 
government  at  Washington,  I  thought  a  position  in  one 
of  these  departments  was  a  bonanza,  and  that  I  could 
save  at  least  one  half  of  my  salary  every  month,  and 
that  any  clerk  who  did  not  do  so  was  a  spendthrift,  and 
ought  not  to  be  retained.  I  soon  learned  that  nearly 
everything  one  needed  costs  more  here  than  the  same 
article  would  cost  in  the  States,  besides,  one  is  almost 
compelled  to  board  and  room  at  a  first  class  place,  and 
pay  a  higher  rate  for  whatever  article  he  needed,  in 
order  to  be  classed  with  respectable  people.  If  one 
stopped  at  a  cheap  house  with  second-class  people, 
that  act  alone  settled  his  status  in  Washington   society. 

There  are  private  and  public  boarding  houses 
here,  which  furnish  room  and  board  at  from  twelve  to 
forty  dollars  per  month,  so  that  one  can  take  his  choice 
as  to  place  and  price,  but  the  usual  price  paid  by  De- 
partment clerks  for  room,  board  and  washing,  is  about 
twenty-five  dollars  per  month.  A  decent  house  here, 
with  modern  improvements,  cannot  be  rented  for  less 
than  twenty-five  dollars  per  month,  nor  a  front  room 
for  less  than  ten  dollars  for  the  same  period.  One  will 
soon  find  that  he   must  dress  in  the  latest   style,  if  he 


V 


170  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

wishes  to  be  on  a  par  with  his  fellow  clerks,  and  to  do 
that  he  is  required  to  go  dressed  up  in  his  best  clothes 
every  day,  thereby  making  his  clothing  bill  twice  or 
three  times  what  it  would  be  in  the  States.  Of  course, 
there  is  no  regulation  requiring  clerks  to  appear  at 
their  desks  dressed  in  their  best  clothes,  but  there  is  an 
implied  understanding,  that  poorly  dressed  employes 
are  to  be  classed  with  the  lower  grade  of  Washington 
society,  a  position  not  desired,  because  it  is  generally 
believed  that  a  clerk  who  is  too  stingy  to  spend  money 
so  as  to  appear  at  his  desk  decently  dressed,  is  not  a  fit 
subject  for  promotion.  At  any  rate,  in  my  opinion  and 
experience,  such  persons  seldom,  if  ever,  are  recom- 
mended for  a  higher  grade,  and  what  I  state  here  ap- 
plies to  lady  clerks  and  gentlemen  alike. 

So  that  a  new  clerk  from  the  States,  receiving  an 
appointment  here,  thinks  for  the  first  few  weeks  that 
he  is  going  to  save  money,  and  not  only  that,  but  he  is 
going  to  set  an  example  of  ecom  )ny  to  his  fellow 
clerks.  But  he  soon  finds  that  he  cannot  do  it,  and  if 
he  would  command  respect  and  association,  he  must  do 
as  he  sees  others  do,  and  like  an  adept,  he  falls  in,  con- 
vinced that  his  fellow  clerks  are  not  spendthrifts  afcer 
all.  There  are  several  other  lessons  the  new  clerk 
learns,  after  he  is  sworn  into  the  Departmental  service, 
especially  if  he  came  in  through  examination  under 
Civil  Service  Rules;  that  there  are  old  clerks  here,  who 
are  competent  to  teach  him  many  things  which  he 
failed  to  learn  at  school,  and  that  the  ideas  he  had  pre- 
viously formed,  touching  the  ability  of  government 
clerks,  who  were  appointed  prior  to  the  passage  of  the 
Civil  Service  Act,  were  erroneous.  To  his  surprise, 
he    finds  men    and   women   in   the   Departments  here, 


FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME.  171 

highly  cultivated  and  well  posted  in  the  very  latest  lit- 
erature of  the  day,  and  competent  to  take  a  leading 
part  in  almost  any  of  the  historical  and  scientific  re- 
searches of  recent  date.  So  that  the  newcomer, 
although  having  successfully  passed  a  civil  service  ex- 
amination, and  received  an  appointment  based  thereon, 
must  take  his  position  at  the  foot  of  the  class,  as  it 
were,  and  go  to  work  to  even  hold  that  position,  for  it 
has  often  happened  that  such  clerks  have  been  dropped 
after  six  months  service — "  cause,  Inefficiency,"  while 
older  clerks,  because  of  their  efficiency,  hold  on. 

One  of  the  first  lessons  a  new  appointee  should 
learn,  and  I  might  say  the  most  important  one,  is  entire 
and  complete  subordination,  for  without  th's  he  cannot 
succeed.  He  must  make  up  his  mind  to  lay  aside 
what  he  calls  his  manly  instincts  and  personal  inde- 
pendence, and  resolve  to  submissively  obey  all  orders 
of  his  superiors  without  a  murmur,  even  though  they 
are  not  stated  exactly  in  accordance  with  the  rules  of 
syntax,  laid  down  by  Lindley  Murray.  He  will  also 
find  that  he  must  so  act  as  to  win  the  respect  and  con- 
fidence of  his  superiors  in  office,  and  to  so  live  as  to 
hold  them,  and  to  do  this,  he  must  be  a  gentleman 
away  from  the  office  as  well  as  in  it,  for  if  he  keeps  bad 
company,  the  report  of  it  will  eventually  reach  his  su- 
periors, and  thereby  affect  his  standing  materially.  A 
new  clerk  will  not  be  here  very  long  before  he  will  find 
that  in  addition  to  these  other  necessary  requirements, 
that  "  Influence  "  counts  a  good  deal,  and  without  it 
one  can  make  slow  headway  singlehanded  and  alone, 
trusting  to  his  own  ability.  To  obtain  social  standing 
and  influence,  one  must  associate  with  the  better  class 
of  people,  and  to  do  that  he  must  be  of  clean  character, 


172  FREEDOM    AS    SEEN    BY    ME. 

if  he  expects  to  obtain  entre  therein.  The  various  De- 
partments of  the  government  here  are  run  by  old  and 
experienced  clerks,  who  have  spent  a  large  part  of  their 
lives  in  this  service,  and  cannot  well  be  displaced  by 
the  new  ones,  however  intelligent  they  may  be.  The 
fitness  of  these  old  clerks  is  proved  by  long,  efficient 
and  faithful  service.  They  also  very  clearly  understand 
the  value  of  influence,  and  know  just  when,  where  and 
how  to  bring  it  to  bear.     They  are  regular  diplomats. 

But  aside  from  other  considerations,  these  men 
have  devoted  their  lives  to  the  service,  grown  old  in  it, 
and  are  content,  and  I  might  say,  fitted  to  this  kind  of 
work  to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  work.  They  cannot 
go  out  into  the  world  and  make  a  decent  living  on  their 
own  wits,  and  therefore  should  be  let  alone,  because  the 
government  has  received  the  benefit  of  their  best  days 
of  service,  and  should  not  cast  them  out  on  account  of 
old  age,  at  least,  to  "  go  over  the  hill  to  the  poor 
house." 


THE    END. 
^> 


ENDORSEMENTS.  173 

ENDORSEMENTS. 

Probably  the  most  unique  work  of  its  kind  will  be 
Mr.  H.  C.  Bruce's  book,  "  The  New  Man."  It  is 
ostensibly  the  author's  autobiography,  but  he  has  made 
more  of  it  than  a  simple  narrative  by  interweaving  with 
his  own  experience  much  of  the  history  of  the  ante- 
bellum days  and  very  many  vivid  descriptions  of  the 
habits  and  customs  of  the  Old  South. 

One  of  the  most  conspicuous  features  of  this  book 
is  the  entire  absence  of  the  passion  usually  displayed 
when  former  slaves  refer  to  their  past  bondage.  Yet 
without  this  very  dispassionateness  no  history  can  be 
authentic.  We  may  be  fascinated  by  the  elegant  style 
of  an  historian,  but  the  fascination  changes  to  doubt  in 
the  presence  of  his  evident  bias  and  his  expressed  prej- 
udice. 

Mr.  Bruce  felt  his  bondage — all  slaves  felt  it — but 
he  has  been  fair  enough,  and  I  may  add  courageous 
enough,  to  say  that  within  his  experience  and  observa- 
tion, savagery  and  brutality  in  the  treatment  of  slaves 
were  the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  The  great  wrong 
was  in  the  enslavement  -per  se  of  a  fellow-man.  Why, 
he  argues,  would  a  man  abuse  and  over-work  and  starve 
his  slave,  a  valuable  piece  of  property,  any  more  than 
he  would  poorly  feed  or  maltreat  his  horse  or  his  ox? 
His  own  self-interest  would  require  good  treatment  in 
order  to  secure  good  results  from  the  labor  of  his 
slaves.  There  were  harsh,  even  brutal  masters,  but 
Mr.  Bruce  claims  that  these  were  usually  found  among 
a  class  of  people  who  were  low  bred,  and  he  asserts 
that  the  cruelties  of  slavery  could  be  as  easily  traced  to 
this  class  of  white  men,  as  we  can  trace  to  a  similar 
class  to-day  the  proscriptions,  and  persecutions  and  hard- 
ships that  are  suffered  by  the  better  element  of  Colored 
people. 

If  left  to  themselves,  Mr.  Bruce  believes,  there 
would  be  the  best  of  feeling  between  the  old  aristocrat 
and  his  former   slave,  and  the  world  would  not  be  peri- 


174  ENDORSEMENTS. 

odically  shocked  by   the   intelligence  of  lynching  bees 
and  burnings. 

To  me,  Mr.  Bruce's  accounts  of  the  old  highway 
system,  with  the  then  prevailing  modes  of  travel  and 
trade,  are  as  instructive  as  they  are  interesting.  But 
this  is  only  one  of  the  many  valuable  contributions  to 
history,  with  which  the  book  abounds. 

Mr.  Bruce's  narration  of  his  experiences  begins 
with  his  childhood,  when  he  was  encouraged  by  his 
master  to  eat  and  play  on  his  Virginia  farm,  and  carries 
the  reader  through  the  intervening  years,  until  when  at 
Brunswick,  practically  in  charge  of  his  master's  busi- 
ness, the  war  came  and  changed  a  nominal  freedom 
into  an  actual  freedom. 

Another  prominent  feature  of  the  book,  is  Mr. 
Bruce's  contention  that  the  two  classes  of  people  in 
the  South  should  not  divide  along  the  line  of  race  or 
color,  and  in  this  connection  he  furnishes  argument  to 
support  his  condemnation  of  the  common  blooded 
blacks  and  whites  alike,  whose  bad  conduct  he  asserts 
has  brought  shame  and  disgrace,  and  misery  upon  the 
better  classes  of  white  and  Colored  people  of  the 
South. 

All  the  way  through  the  book  sets  the  reader  to 
thinking  and  whoever  may  peruse  its  pages  will  be 
amply  repaid  for  his  time,  and  the  reader  may  rest 
assured  that  he  will  not  find  it  a  task  to  read  what  Mr„ 
Bruce  has  written.  So  far  from  this  he  will  find  that, 
after  reading  the  first  page,  he  will  have  a  desire  to 
read  the  second  page,  and  his  interest  will  increase  to 
the  end  of  the  book 

J.  H.  N.  Waring,  M.  D., 
Washington,  D.  C.            Supervisor  Public  Schools. 
, 9 

Washington,  D.  C  ,  April  igth,  1895. 

I  have  read  in  manuscript,  Mr.  H.  C.  Bruce's  book, 
"  The  New  Man,"  and  have  been  greatly  interested  in 
its  perusal.     It  gives  us  a  very  novel,  and  I  am  sure  a 


ENDORSEMENTS.  175 

truthful  glimpse  of  the  life  of  the  slave.  I  think  it  the 
only  book  that  fairly  represents  the  relations  of  the 
master  and  slave.  Other  books  have  been  written 
on  this  topic,  but  they  have  been  written  for 
the  purpose  of  inflaming  prejudice,  and  the  horrors  of 
slave  life  appear  to  be  greatly  exaggerated.  Mr.  Bruce, 
however,  has  a  simple  story  to  tell  and  does  it  well. 

This  book  may  be  read  with  profit  by  the  Colored 
race  for  the  example  it  affords.  The  author  was  a 
slave  until  his  twenty- ninth  year,  but  by  diligence  and 
hard  work,  in  the  face  of  all  opposition,  he  has  suc- 
ceeded in  educating  himself  and  gaining  positions 
of  honor  and  trust. 

I  commend  this  book  to  any  one  who  desires  to 
get  a  true  idea  of  the  old-time  slave  in  the  cotton  fields 
of  the  South.       Thos.  Featherstonhaugh. 

Medical  Referee,  Bureau  of  Pensions. 


THE  NEGRO  BOND  AND  FREE. 

We  have  been  permitted  to  examine  the  manu- 
script of  a  projected  book,  the  subject  and  the  style  of 
which  will,  we  think,  prove  extremely  interesting  to  the 
general  public.  It  is  the  work  of  a  Colored  man,  a 
resident  of  this  city,  and  an  employe  of  the  Pension 
Office — Henry  C.  Bruce,  a  brother  of  Hon.  B.  K. 
Bruce,  once  United  States  Senator  from  Mississippi, 
and  latterly  Recorder  of  Deeds  from  the  District  of 
Columbia.  It  is  the  unpretentious  story,  simply  and 
directly  told,  of  a  Colored  man  twenty-nine  years  a 
slave.  The  earlier  chapters  contain  the  record  of  his 
life  during  ante-bellum  days,  his  experiences  under 
slavery  as  a  child,  youth,  and  a  grown  man,  the  joys, 
the  sorrows,  the  privations,  the  pleasures,  and  the  vicis- 
situdes which  came  to  him  in  turn.  The  closing  chap- 
ters tell  of  the  conditions  with  which  emancipation 
confronted  him,  what  helps  and  hindrances  he  encoun- 
tered in  his  new  career,  through  what  changing  fortune 
he  made  his  way  to  comfort  and  independence. 


I76  ENDORSEMENTS. 

We  doubt  whether  there  is  to  be  found  in  litera- 
ture anything  of  its  kind  at  once  as  authentic  and  as 
entertaining.  The  writer  is  not  a  professional  Colored 
man.  He  is  not  conspicuous  in  protest  against  the 
attitude  of  the  white  people  toward  the  race.  He  does 
not  claim  to  have  been  a  bleeding  martyr  during  his 
term  of  slavery.  He  does  not  picture  the  old  southern 
proprietor  class  as  monsters  and  tyrants — quite  the 
contrary — or  pretend  that  all  the  virtue,  kindness, 
worth,  and  loyalty  of  that  section  was  to  be  found  in 
the  Negroes.  The  fact  is,  that  Mr.  Bruce  writes  of  the 
period  during  which  he  lived  in  bondage  in  Virginia, 
Mississippi,  and  Missouri,  very  much  as  his  own  master 
would  have  written — truthfully,  fairly,  philosophically. 
It  is  evident  that  he  cherishes  no  resentful  feeling 
toward  those  in  whose  service  he  spent  the  first  half  of 
his  life  Indeed,  one  can  see  that  he  has  for  them  the 
truest  affection  and  regard.  If  there  be  one  sentiment 
which,  more  than  any  other,  runs  through  the  whole 
narrative  from  beginning  to  end,  it  is  the  sentiment  of 
pride  in  the  old  southern  aristocracy,  and  contempt  for 
every  other  type  and  variety  of  white  man.  He  is  loyal 
to  his  own  people,  in  the  highest  and  truest  meaning  of 
loyalty,  but  for  the  slave  owners  as  he  knew  them,  he 
has  the  sense  of  gratitude  and  justice  strong  within 
him. 

The  book  is  full  of  wisdom  and  kindness.  Here 
and  there  are  touches  of  shrewd  observations  which 
the  Colored  people  will  do  well  to  ponder  and  reflect 
upon.  And  not  the  least  valuable  and  .creditable  fea- 
ture of  Mr.  Bruce's  work  is  to  be  found  in  the  candid, 
generous,  and  fair  comment  he  indulges  as  to  the  man- 
agement of  the  Pension  Office  under  Messrs.  Black, 
Raum,  and  Lochren.  It  is  refreshing,  indeed,  to  find  a 
Colored  man  writing  so  intelligently  of  slavery  during 
his  own  term  of  bondage,  and  of  race  issues  and  politics, 
in  which  for  thirty  years  past  he  has  been  an  active,  if 
a  modest  and  unostentatious  participant.—  Washington 
Post,  April  14,  1895. 


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